


War of Stars

by PoliticalPadmé (magnetgirl)



Category: Game of Thrones (TV), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Clone Rights, F/M, Fanvids, Fix-It of Sorts, Force Bond (Star Wars), POV Alternating, Slavery, Video
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 26,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21560899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetgirl/pseuds/PoliticalPadm%C3%A9
Summary: a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.... an exiled princess and a former slave built a better empire
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker/Daenerys Targaryen, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	1. Cersei

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts).



> This is the longest fic I've ever completed and it feels amazing, thank you for providing me the opportunity to write this brilliant pairing and build a whole shared world around them. 
> 
> Many of the characters are composites. My _Game of Thrones_ characterization is influenced by both the books and television series. There are five POV characters who alternate chapters. I played a little with ages and there are two time jumps.
> 
> Because this is fantasy, the technology is not explained. Please do not worry if dragons are scientifically possible :)

Cersei paced outside the doors to the Jedi Council Chambers. She could hear nothing from the other side, but she sensed tension in the air. Her brother was seated on the floor, off to the side, equidistant between the entrance to the room and the wall of windows that face it. His knees were tucked under him and his hands rested palm up in a classic meditation pose but he struggled to keep his focus. His eyes were watching her, alert and anxious. 

Two Jedi Masters stood by the window, speaking quietly. Cersei only knew Jorah Mormont and Qui-Gon Jinn by reputation as nonconformists but they were living up to it: arguing over the appearance of a red comet on the outskirts of the Outer Rim. Cersei heard snatches of the conversation - something about a prince who was chosen or promised to balance the Force - but it was mostly boring and far, far away. Master Jinn said the comet appeared over Zaldrīzesdōron[1] _now_ but in five years it would appear over Tatooine and it was always over _somewhere_ so could it really be considered a sign? Master Mormont said it was a sign of _something_ and that was enough to pique his interest especially given the line in book two, chapter twelve... Cersei stopped listening. She didn't care about the dusty old Jedi texts and she didn't care about prophecies unless they had something to do with her or her twin. 

Finally, the Council doors slid open. Cersei spun, eager to learn their fate, but Jaime was nervous as he stood and moved to her side. She clasped his hand quickly, and sent a comforting pulse through their bond. 

"Don't worry," she told him in a low voice, careful to not be overheard. "I'll take care of everything." Jaime nodded and she dropped his hand as Qui-Gon promised to find his friend later and joined the children by the door.

The three were ushered into the room to stand in the center, the council spread around them in a circle. The Masters were all seated, with calm masks in place but the tension Cersei felt earlier was even stronger. Emotions were running high, though they'd never admit it. It reminded Cersei to push down her own anxiety, but she sensed whatever was bothering the Council was not about the twins. It was something bigger.

"Thank you for waiting." Jaime and Qui-Gon bowed their heads to acknowledge Master Windu's words and a second later Cersei followed suit. "It is decided that Jaime Lannister is apprenticed to Master Jinn and Cersei Lannister-"

"We should be apprenticed together!" she interrupted with a scowl. "We are stronger together!"  
  
Master Windu raised an eyebrow. "That is why you must be apprenticed separately. You rely too heavily on your bond. A Jedi relies only on the Force."  
  
"The Force is what ties us together," she countered, happy to use their stupid lessons to make her point. What was the word Master Yoda used? He was always droning on and on for hours, it took all her effort to stay awake. Ties and... "Unites us!" she continued, triumphantly. "Together! Like a-"  
  
"Enough." The girl fell silent. "Your feelings are clear, young one." Plo Koon's tone was gentler than Windu's. "Your objection is noted. However the Council’s decision is made."

Cersei pressed her lips flat and raised her chin with defiance, but she held her tongue. Plo Koon settled back in his chair with a silent nod as if to say _good, that’s settled, now_ and Mace started again. 

"Jaime Lannister is apprenticed to Master Jinn." Qui-Gon placed his hands on Jaime's shoulders. Cersei swallowed a scowl. "Cersei Lannister will remain here at the temple to continue her training."

"No!"

There was an implied _for now_ in the Jedi Master's pronouncement but all Cersei heard was rejection. The twins were ten, an entirely appropriate age to be selected as padawans. She'd predicted it was why they'd been ordered to appear before the Council and though she'd worried they wouldn't let them be apprenticed together she'd never imagined that Jaime would be assigned and she wouldn't.

"I am the better student! I'm faster and I'm smarter and I'm-" Well, Jaime was stronger but she was more powerful, she was!

Her cries were met with silent judgement. The whole room seemed to be embarrassed for her. It only made her more angry.

"Proud you are. And willful." Yoda shook his head. "Jedi traits these are not."

It took every ounce of her will and pride not to throw something at the smug Grand Master. She had every right to be insulted. She didn't need remedial training. Jaime needed-! "He needs me to-" Jaime was already a talented warrior, but he was so focused on rules, and he's soft, too soft. He needed protecting and she needed... "I won't stay here," she asserted, and then, her voice breaking, "...alone..."  
  
"I will take her." The voice cut through the room, startling them all. A tall Jedi moved from the shadows to the girl's side. The Council had forgotten he was there, and Cersei hadn't known to begin with. "I will take Cersei as my padawan learner."

Yoda and Mace turned to each other, shared a long, silent look and finally nodded.

"Agreed. Cersei Lannister is apprenticed to Master Sifo-Dyas."

Both Lannisters and their new Masters were dismissed as soon as Master Windu said the ceremonial words. When they'd cleared the exit, Jinn and Sifo-Dyas moved in opposite directions but the twins stopped to look at each other. Master Sifo-Dyas cocked his head.

"Come on then."

Their fingers rustled at their sides. They didn't touch, not physically, but felt the pressure of the other's hand through the Force, a trick they'd learned long ago that the Jedi hadn't been able to indoctrinate out of them.

 _You're never alone_ , Cersei whispered through the Force and Jaime squeezed her hand in kind. He turned away with a comforted smile and followed Qui-Gon out of her sight. She fell into step with her Master.   
  
"Jinn is a fine teacher," Sifo-Dyas related as they walked. "Your brother is in good hands."

"Am I?"

He laughed, delighted, which was not at all the standard response to her impertinence. "Oh, you are a handful aren't you?" 

Cersei glared.

"Good. Stay angry, little lion."

This was such an odd statement from a Jedi she nearly tripped and had to run to catch up as he turned a corner toward the hanger. He smiled when she fell in step by his side, though it was tinged with regret.   
  
"There is a war coming," he explained. "Closer every day but they refuse to see it. Signs in the sky-"

"The comet?"

Sifo-Dyas looked at her sharply. "What do you know of it?"

Cersei shook her head. "I heard them talking." Briefly she wished she'd paid more attention.

"Arguing," her Master corrected. Cersei frowned, curious why it mattered and reluctant to accept any rebuke, even a small one. But she nodded after a moment. Her new Master was an enigma. She wanted to know more. "Jinn seeks a savior, Mormont a ruler. What they need is an army." It sounded like a riddle, but before she could ask for clarification they arrived at a ship.

She didn't know the model - ships were Jaime's purview - but it was older than the ones in the simulator, and bigger of course, with room for at least four she guessed. Sifo-Dyas picked up a case that was set beneath the nose and walked up the plank. After a brief hesitation Cersei followed him, into the ship and a room in back. He dropped the case by the door and nodded to her.

"Get settled, I have to prep for departure."

He started down the corridor towards the cockpit. Cersei frowned and called after, "Where are we going?"

"Master," he said, neither turning nor stopping.

"What?"

He looked back. "Where are we going, Master."

She scowled but echoed as directed, "Where are we going, Master?"

"Get settled. I'll explain when we get there." 

Cersei opened her mouth to protest but closed it again at Sifo-Dyas's raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Master," she answered through her teeth.

Laughter bounced off the walls as he disappeared around the corner. Cersei spun and marched back to her room.

Jumpy with annoyance, Cersei couldn't be still. She opened the suitcase and rustled through the collection of tunics, robes, belts and breeches in the earth tones of the Jedi. So boring, she mused, remembering the reds and golds of her early childhood. Why do the Jedi have to dress like mud?

It wasn't a very big room, but it was the first she had all to herself. She glanced through a small collection of books lined up on a shelf cut in the wall, peered at a tapestry that looks handmade and ancient. In the fresher she found a mirror. She doesn't look any different than she did this morning, but she knew, somehow, she was changing. As she drew a finger down her cheek the floor shuddered - the ship was launching. Cersei moved to the portal she'd seen in her wall and pressed the button to retract the shade so she can see out. She watched in silence as the temple faded, and then the city, and finally the whole planet as they punched into space. She raised a hand to the glass; it's cold to her touch.

"Cersei."

She blinked and turned, refusing to look startled, and walked calmly to her Master. 

Sifo-Dyas turned his hand to reveal padawan beads. Carefully he pulled a long strand of golden hair out of its tight crown and braided it. When he placed the beads to catch it, she shuddered despite herself. 

"Are you afraid, little lion?"

"No," she lied. 

"I am," he admitted.

Cersei met his eyes. "Where are we going, Master?"

"We are going to build an army."

She wanted desperately to know what he knew. He wished he didn't.

"Winter is coming, child. We must prepare."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Valyrian for "Dragonstone".


	2. Daenerys

_Fifteen Years Later_

The suns were rising when they landed on Tatooine with just over twenty Mandalorian refugees, three raw kyber crystals and a collection of ancient Jedi texts Jorah retrieved from the temple when he left. They were all tired, hungry, and dirty, and their ship barely made the journey. But they were free and the sky was beautiful.

Jorah gathered the crystals and the books - scavengers populated the desert and the refugees were no match for them in their current state - hooked his saber to his belt, and carefully placed the largest crystal pendant over Daenerys's head. They both felt a fluctuation in the Force as it fell against her heart.

"Keep it hidden."

"I know." She tucked the necklace into her tunic. "No one can know we're hunting dragons."

Jorah frowned at the lightness in her tone. "Remember what happened with your brother. All our warriors are gone." He glanced at the Mandolorians passing water around, a handful were dressed to fight but they were weary and their armor weakened. They could not be trusted to protect their exiled princess alone. "Those left are too weak to fight. You must be their strength."

Daenerys pressed his arm with her small hand. "As you are mine."

The knight met her eyes and nodded, accepting the responsibility. "Stay close." 

They arrived in town by midday. Vendors were sparse and their wares secondhand, but that's why they'd chosen such a backwards planet. No one cared who they were, only what they were looking for, and what they had to trade. Daenerys left the details to Ser Jorah. She tried to memorize the place and the people who populated it, but it was mostly sand. Everything and everyone blended together.

They ended up in an overcrowded junk shop. Jorah approached the owner, a small creature, winged and blue, with their list of needs. They chattered a while and eventually disappeared into the back but Daenerys was disinterested in the mechanics of their mission and ignored them in favor of wandering the shop. It's mostly bits and pieces of technology, but there were a few weapons, a rusted droid and a small collection of carvings. She picked one up, a kind of lizard with claws and sweeping wings.

"It's a dragon." She looked toward the voice sharply. A boy with blue eyes and a wide smile looked back at her, nodding at the carving. "The ones out in the desert don't have wings but the star dragons on Qarth could fly all the way into space."

 _Qarth_ , she noted. It could be a child's story, but their whole quest was based in old legends and the ships were real enough.

"I'm a pilot, you know, and someday I'm gonna fly away from this place."

She peered at the boy. It was almost like he could read her thoughts. "You're a pilot?"

"Mm-hmm. All my life."

Daenerys smiled. He couldn't be ten, but then she knew just how much hardship childhood might contain. "How long have you been here?"

"Since I was very little. Three, I think. My mom and I were sold to Gardulla the Hutt...but she lost us betting on the Podraces."

The young woman's eyes grew wide. "You're a slave?"

He frowned. "I'm a person, and my name is Anakin."

The crystal pulsed against her chest, like calling to like. She held up the carving. "You are a dragon," she answered with conviction.

He looked briefly confused, even concerned, but then broke into a bright smile.

"I'm a dragon!" he agreed.

She spun around, lifting the toy into the air. Anakin laughed and leaped off the counter to join her.

Daenerys nodded, laughing along. "You're a dragon." She caught Jorah's gaze as he returned with the proprietor. He looked worried, but she knew he could feel the Force calling, too. "With wings to fly across the stars." 


	3. Anakin

Watto let Anakin leave after the strangers' visit. The Toydarian didn't like the tall one, he was secretive and disinterested in gambling. And they were both dressed poorly and asking strange questions. Watto was happy to see them go and hoped they'd stay away. But Anakin knew they were different from their normal clientele, the smugglers and slavers and racers who frequented the junk shop. Daenerys might be dressed like a desert rat but she held herself like a princess and her protector had a laser sword. Anakin knew they were special. And he knew he had to find them again.

The sandstorm surprised them. It was always like that in Mos Espa. One minute it was clear skies, the next your body was bombarded with tiny rocks. Anakin didn't like sand, it had gotten into, and destroyed, too many of his gadgets for him to be on good terms with the stuff. But in this instance, he was thankful.

"We need to find shelter," Jorah murmured, worry etched on his face.

"The ship-"

He shook his head. "Too far..."

"Come with me."

Daenerys blinked. "Anakin?"

"Sand storms are dangerous. We need to get inside." Anakin watched the two share a look. They were really good at having a whole conversation without words. Jorah finally nodded and Anakin grabbed Daenerys's hand. "Come with me." 

He lead them through the storm to a small dwelling that looked like it was carved out of the same sand that swirled around them. Daenerys stood in the doorway, peering at the ceiling with unease.

"It's safe," Anakin assured her.

"Ani?" His mother appeared from the kitchen startled to find visitors.

"Mom, these are my friends."

"Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter from the storm."

Jorah and Shmi continued speaking quietly but Daenerys wasn't listening so Anakin ignored them, too. She wandered through the home, barely four rooms and smaller than any she'd ever seen, and he followed, chattering about each space with pride. As small as it was, it was where they lived, and they'd done what they could to make it a home.

"This is my room."

Every surface in his room was crowded with bits and pieces of machines, wires, scraps, and tools. It was a chaotic mess but with a strange beauty.

"What are you building?"

"Whatever I can."

Daenerys glanced over to meet his eyes. 

"Star pilots leave things behind and if Watto doesn't know what it is he doesn't care if I take it. And things are always lost in the desert." He had to avoid the Jawas and the Sand People, and he couldn't go too far with his tracker, but he always sensed when he reached the limits and liked to push the boundaries. It gave him a sense of control. "All slaves have a transmitter placed inside their bodies somewhere. I've been working on a scanner to try and locate mine."

His new friend's eyes turned dark. "They track you?"

Aankin nodded. "Any attempt to escape and-" He banged his hands together forcefully, making her jump and Jorah and Shmi run in from the other room. "-they blow you up." 

Daenerys was horrified. "The Republic's anti-slavery laws..."

"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Shmi explained."We must survive on our own."

His Mom worked so hard and complained so little. Anakin hated to see her sad. "I'm gonna make Mom a droid. And I'll show you my racer when the storm's done."

Jorah looked up sharply, eyes darting to find Daenerys's gaze.

"You have your own?" she asked, hushed. 

"I built it." Anakin flashed a wide, proud, grin. "Have you ever seen a podrace?"

Daenerys shook her head but Jorah nodded. "There's podracing on Malestere. Very fast, very dangerous."

"I'm the only human who can do it."

Jorah stroked his chin. "You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods."

Anakin shrugged. "I had a dream I was a Jedi once, with a laser sword and a silver ship I could fly with my mind. I freed all the slaves." He raised his eyes to find Jorah and Daenerys were staring at him. He chewed his lip, worried he said too much. Dreams weren't real. "There's a big race coming," he told them to change the subject. "For Boonta Eve."

Daenerys and Jorah shared another look over his head. "That's why we came," the knight explained. Anakin glanced between the two, frowning.

"I have three kraydt engines," Daenerys told him, her voice low and intense. "The last ones in the galaxy as far as we know."

"Watto didn't believe me. No one has seen a kraydt ship in a thousand years, not since the Jedi outlawed them."

Anakin's frown deepened. Outlawed? "Why?"

"These ships require a Force connection with their pilot." Jorah spun the tale. "To be that open to the Force, while flying, fighting… the stress takes its toll. Too many Jedi lost their minds, or their lives."

Shmi shivered. "Why do you want to build one?"

The former Master took a deep breath. "I believe it is a question of faith. The Force does not belong to the Jedi alone."

The answer hung in the air a long moment.

"You came here to find a pilot?" Anakin asked.

Jorah shook his head. "We need to build the ships first." He picked up what he recognized as a model pod, the one Anakin built to design his full-size one. "Racers are unique. Built for speed, agility and each one distinctive, made for its pilot. We came here to learn how they're designed. But without our own, they won't even talk to us."

"You can use mine," the boy offered, freely, with no thought of reward.

"Anakin, Watto won't let you." His mother's eyes willed it to be so.

"Watto doesn't know I built it," he scoffed, and turned eagerly to the guests. "You can tell him it's yours. And I can race it. I can win."

Daenerys held her breath. Jorah looked at his hands, torn. 

"I don't want you to race," Shmi pleaded. "It's awful, I die every time Watto makes you do it."

"But, mom, I love it." It never felt dangerous to Anakin. It felt like freedom. "And I can help them." He raised his eyes, wide with purpose. "I want to help them."


	4. Daenerys

Shmi was persuaded, but the fear didn't leave her eyes and Jorah changed the topic for dinner. The travelers described their journey from Daenerys's birthplanet to Dothrak, a colony populated by displaced Mandolorians. They left out the harsher details, how her brother had given her to a tribal leader more than twice her age in exchange for a ship that melted his brain when he tried to fly it. Viserys had no patience and no compassion and in the end, he was no dragon. After the loss of her brother, and her husband to warring tribes, they fled with what was left of her people to the closest planet with racing - and no questions. Shmi smiled wryly; it was why everyone came to Tatooine.

In the morning they turned their attention to the racer. It was smaller than she expected, though it makes sense it would be fit to its young pilot. Daenerys was useless with machines but kept busy fetching tools and parts for the others. A handful of Anakin's friends, other slaves who lived and worked nearby, appeared in the afternoon to help, allowing Jorah and Daenerys time for a break. Jorah accepted two plates from Shmi with thanks and they settled on the steps. 

They ate in silence, their bellies hadn't been full in months. It was ironic two slaves from a nothing planet were the first to offer them meals and help. Daenerys was the last descendant of a royal lineage of Force users driven out of the galaxy by the current government and their Jedi allies a thousand years before. She was a princess by birth and marriage, a warrior by blood, and Jorah called her the Chosen One, but no one came to their aid before the Skywalkers.

Jorah set his empty plate aside and took a deep breath. "Are you sure about this?" Daenerys frowned, confused. "Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know?"

Her frown deepened. She'd imagined the knight felt the same connection to Anakin she did. "It seems to me that a queen who trusts no one is as foolish as a queen who trusts everyone."

Jorah pursed his lips, troubled, and unconvinced. Daenerys balled her fists in her lap, for a moment every bit the petulant fifteen year old that lived inside the stalwart leader she played at being. "I trust the Force. Don't you?"

"He is a child-"

"He is a _dragon_ ," she growled. 

Jorah sighed and she knew she'd win.

"Khaleesi-"

"We came here for a reason." She stood, and he followed.

"Yes. For parts. To build your ships-"

Daenerys pressed her fingers to her chest, the small bump that hid her crystal pendant. "Three ships need three pilots."

Jorah looked over to the boy tinkering with his engine. 

"The Force is unusually strong with him," he admitted. "Had he been born in the Republic the Order would have identified him early." He turned back to meet her eyes. "But a slave boy from an Outer Rim planet cannot be-"

"A Jedi?" Jorah averted his eyes, ashamed. "I do not care about your Republic rules just as they do not care about Anakin. Or me." Daenerys straightened her shoulders and raised her head, like a queen. "He is the one we need. I feel it."


	5. Cersei

"I will not defer," the young woman spit back at the Chancellor, speaking with a strength he clearly didn't expect from the teen queen of a small planet stolen from frog-people. "I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty now. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die while you discuss this invasion in a committee." Her confidence grew with each word and Cersei was reluctantly impressed. "If this body is not capable of action...I suggest new leadership is needed. I move for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum's leadership."

The senate chambers erupted, shouts of "Vote now! Vote now!" mixed with calls for "Order! Order!" and in the midst of it the young queen with a painted face and her Senator whispering in her ear. Cersei's eyes narrowed. 

"I hate politics."

A smile tugged at her lips.

"Of course you do. It requires patience."

Her brother grunted and moved to her side to get a better look at the girl who'd thrown the senate into such an uproar. "Do you agree with her?"

Cersei nodded, curt. "Valorum is weak."

Jaime frowned, sensing something underneath her words. "What is it?"

"Hm?"

He crossed his arms, intrigued. "You're watching her..."

"She's a puppet," his sister dismissed, her eyes on the senator from Naboo. "I'm watching him." As her brother turned his gaze back to the scene in the senate, Cersei pulled up the file on Sheev Palpatine.

The senator was nominated to succeed Valorum alongside those from Alderaan and Malestere. Cersei was unsurprised, and certain he would prevail. She tried to get an audience but so was everyone. Jaime was, predictably, more interested in the little queen and, predictably, more successful in getting her attention. But it worked to her advantage because he passed on the information that Amidala was leaving the capital. Cersei lurked outside the Naboo suite for an hour, but successfully intercepted the senator when he entered the corridor.

She got straight to the point. "Don't let her go."

"Who are you?" the senator sneered.

"Cersei Lannister."

His eyes swept over her. "A Jedi... no, a student." He waved his guards away, curious - or amused - enough to grant her a moment.

Again, she got straight to the point. "You will be Chancellor."

"Are you gifted with foresight?"

"No, but my master is." Though he would say cursed.

Palpatine raised an eyebrow. "And what has he foreseen." 

_"What do you see, Master?" Try as she might, Cersei could not keep the tremble from her voice. He fell into these moods more and more often._

_"Death. Destruction. War. Violence." Sifo-Dyas looked right at her. Right through her. "Darkness."_

_His eyes accused, but she refused to look away._

_"The Jedi will fall," he whispered, as he always did. "The Republic will burn."_

Cersei shook her head to escape the memory. "The end of days," she answered, in a calm, clear voice. Palpatine's eyes narrowed. Cersei leaned in. "She wants to fight. To make a stand. But she can't stop what’s coming."

The senator cocked his head. "You are concerned for the queen's life?"

She gave him a withering look. "You will be Chancellor because you understand the game. The Senate is peopled with pawns, those that wish to do good," _Like Jaime._ "And those that yearn for power you will never truly give away." _Like me._ "Your little queen is the perfect mix of vulnerability and heroism and you are a fool to let her go."

Her quarry chuckled. "Perhaps you are the fool to speak so plainly."

"No," Cersei answered in that same calm voice. "I understand the game."

Palpatine gave her a long measured look, as if weighing her very soul. She met it, unwavering. Finally, he smiled a terrible smile and she felt reborn.


	6. Anakin

The racer was ready, or as ready as it would be. Its pilot was watching the stars, imagining he had wings.

Daenerys was asleep, the long days and bright sun left her exhausted. She'd refused to put Shmi out of her bed and only accepted Anakin's when he explained he planned to sleep in the cockpit anyway. He wanted to be one with the racer, an assertion that caught Daenerys's breath, and allowed her to fall asleep without nightmares, secure in their decisions.

He wasn't ready to sleep, though. He still wanted to dream.

Daenerys was asleep, Shmi was lighting candles and whispering to the winds to protect her boy, and Jorah was watching him watch the stars. Anakin didn't know what to make of the man. Daenerys trusted him, and Shmi seemed to, too, but he was always watching, like he was waiting to see something, or for something to happen, and it worried Anakin. He was good at riddles and fixing things, but not when he didn't know what the problem was.

"Ser Jorah?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think I could be a Jedi? Like in my dreams?"

The knight pushed off the wall he was leaning against and approached the boy on the ledge. "Would you like that?"

Anakin didn't really know what a Jedi was. A hero, certainly, someone who saved people and ended injustice. And they danced with swords that lit up and in his dream they had silver ships that flew faster than anything. But he'd never met one, or seen one, they never came to Tatooine. Except Ser Jorah and he was exiled and Anakin didn't know if he liked him.

"I think so," he answered, finally, in a quiet, honest voice.

Jorah held out a hand and helped the boy down. He sat crossed legged in the shadow of the wall, the light of the moons danced across his face.

"Sit." Anakin sat, crossing his limbs to mirror the knight. "Close your eyes." Anakin closed his eyes. "Breathe." Jorah took a deep breath, and Anakin matched it. They breathed in kind a long moment. "What do you feel?"

Anakin chewed his lip. "Sand?"

"Describe it."

"It's rough. And prickles. My hands are dirty." It's impossible to avoid on Tatooine, and impossible to get truly clean. "I don't like it."

Jorah took another deep breath. "What is between you and the sand?"

The boy frowned. He knew the answer was the Force but did he feel it? Can he?

"Concentrate," his mentor guided. "Let it find you."

Anakin scrunched up his face and tried to ignore everything except the sand. He felt a warm breeze. And... an energy - it's Jorah! Still but strong, a protector. His aura extended out to the house, his mother and her earth magic, and-

_Daenerys._

Anakin was certain it was her. The energy was too bright to see, too hot to touch. It swirled and roared, always moving, never silent, protective like Jorah's but fiercer.

"Good," Jorah murmured, pleased. "Now open your eyes."

Anakin's eyes fluttered open to reveal the sand around him had settled into a pattern, tiny piles raked into circles that extended as far as the light touched, all stemming from him.

A bright smile lit up the boy's face. "...wizard," he said softly.

Jorah smiled and helped him up. "The Force is all around you, all the time. Be mindful of it and it will be your ally, Jedi or not."

Morning and the race came quickly. It started poorly, his engine didn't catch and he was left idling at the start to the great amusement of the crowd. But his misfortune was good luck, by the time he got the pod going and launched into the race the leaders had knocked off most of the field and with a few smart moves he was back in it. Anakin was a natural racer. He could sense things before they happened, anticipated every move, and soon only two racers remained: Anakin and the undefeated Sebulba. Undefeated, the child racer suddenly realized in a flash of insight as his engine failed, due to sabotage.

Anakin kept his head, reached out to the energies that surrounded him to gather strength and discover the problem. He worked quickly and smartly and fixed the leaking engine without stopping. With three flicks and a fancy turn he left the dug in his dust. Anakin crossed the finish line alone, triumphant, to the cries of a thousand slaves cheering for one of their own.

Jorah picked him up out of the pod and he was surrounded, pulled into the tight embrace of his mother and then Daenerys, the crowd fanning out around them in tight circles, just like the sand.


	7. Cersei

Cersei slipped out of her bedroom and into the darkened apartment. Coruscant lights glittered out the window despite the late hour. Cersei preferred the blinds closed but her Master liked the lights, they kept the nightmares to a minimum. She crept into the back room, Sifo-Dyas's private space, where she'd been barely a handful of times, and quietly accessed the records, copied all the data on the clones and their programming to an encrypted datacard, and then set it to delete. Her task completed, she slipped the card into the folds of her robe and crept back into the living space. As she pressed the door to close the apartment was suddenly flooded with light. Cersei turned, her saber drawn, ready to strike.

Sifo-Dyas stood in the middle of the room, his hands clasped in front of him, his haunted eyes following her every move.

"Cersei."

"Master."

He flashed a wistful smile.

"Is it time already?"

Cersei pursed her lips and tightened her grip on the lightsaber. "You taught me well."

Her Master nodded, and advanced toward her, his saber still closed at his belt. Cersei watched with wary eyes. He stoped within striking distance and raised an arm, Cersei tried not to flinch but didn't quite succeed. He pressed his hand to her cheek. His touch was warm against her skin.

"Did you always know?" she asked, her eyes wet, her voice barely above a whisper.

Sifo-Dyas smiled. "My little lion."

She scowled. "I'm not little," she spit. "And I'm not yours."

He reached out to cup her face in both hands and drew her close, his breath tickled her ear. "Do you remember the words?"

_The visions haunted her Master, coming ever swifter and more often as the years went on. It made them hermits, even if he hadn't been actively working against orders. Cersei was lonely and tired of waking up to her Master's nightmares, tired of waking up to her own._

_"You never ask."_

_Before she'd come to live with Master Sifo-Dyas prophecy intrigued Cersei. When Yoda spoke of visions to her class of younglings she'd yearned to experience them, all the more so because the Grand Master cautioned against it. But her interest waned quickly when confronted with the toll it took on Sifo-Dyas. She feared knowledge of the future wouldn't bring her the solace she wanted, but only more fear, and pain. So she didn't ask._

_She didn't ask about her brother, the missing piece of her heart who she worried would forget her every time they separated. She didn't ask about the children she wanted that the Jedi wouldn't allow. Or the padawan she assumed they wouldn't allow either. She didn't ask about escaping the life she'd never felt comfortable in. She clung to not asking and not knowing and slowly but surely grew as paranoid as her Master._

_"What do you want most?" he asked, his hands clasped her face, his breath tickled her ear._

_Cersei forced every thought of Jaime or children or family or love away and focused on the one way she might control the existential dread her life had become._

_"Power," she whispered._

_Sifo-Dyas stepped back to meet her eyes. "Power you shall have. Until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."_

Cersei's eyes narrowed. "I remember." Her Master dropped his hands.

"I'm ready."

At Senator Palpatine's request Master Sifo-Dyas and his padawan Cersei were assigned to join Master Jinn and his padawan Jaime on the journey to Naboo. There had been new threats to young Amidala's life and they would only increase should he be named Chancellor. But the attack came before they'd even left the atmosphere. The Queen's ship exploded just after it launched.

"Jaime!" she screamed, her arm flung in his direction.

He understood instinctively, joined his power to hers and a Force bubble formed around the two padawans and the young Nabooan ruler. All three were protected from the initial blast and the repercussions of the explosion, but their Masters did not survive.

It was chaos for hours. Days. While the Jedi investigated the bombing, the three young people were confined to Padmé's quarters for safety. The Senate's election proceeded and the sympathetic Senator from Naboo won handily. Eventually, the Council found evidence a bounty hunter was paid by the Trade Federation to assassinate the Queen. Viceroy Gunray was arrested but the blockade remained while the trial went on and Palpatine, now Chancellor, refused to let Padmé return.

"It is for your protection, my dear." Padmé was moved into a bigger apartment closer to the Senate. "...where I can keep an eye on you." 

The Council decided Jaime and Cersei passed their trials. They were knighted and assigned indefinitely to protect Chancellor Palpatine and his ward. The young people had been through a trauma together, and the Jedi must learn to work with the new Chancellor, perhaps their newest knights might provide insight. Thus the Lannister twins and Queen Amidala watched Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine's first official address to the Senate as its newly elected leader from the safety and comfort of Naboo's Senate box, surrounded by the Chancellor's personal guard.

Padmé watched Palpatine raptly, a determined expression on her face, scratching notes into a personal datapad as he spoke. She wasn't copying down his words - the holo would release a recording, and a transcript would be provided to anyone who asked - but the impact those words had. 

Jaime watched Padmé just as raptly, taking notes with his eyes, and though he didn't know it yet, if Cersei read the situation correctly, his heart. 

Cersei watched Jaime watch the younger woman and worried. Palpatine had given her her brother back, but was it too late? 


	8. Daenerys

Daenerys raised a hand to shield her eyes as her people loaded the supplies on board their ship. The suns were relentless, but Daenerys refused to let them affect her mood. They had found the engineers they needed and were headed to Corellia to build their ships. At least eventually, the route Jorah described was circuitous but they had a plan, a real plan, and her dragons were in sight.

As she lowered her arm she caught sight of Anakin watching uncertainly just beyond the speeder that had carried their provisions from town. She ran, delighted, and threw her arms around the boy when she reached him.

"We owe you everything, Ani."

He grinned and returned the hug. Anakin had been freed. Danerys wasn't sure if Jorah had pressured the slaver or purchased him, nor was she sure which would be better. She knew she did not want to know and hadn't asked, merely thanked him.

"I made you something to remember me." He held out a pendant on a leather cord, lovingly carved and inlay with symbols she wished she understood. "I carved it out of a japor snippet. It will bring you good fortune, wherever you go."

Daenerys smiled. "It's beautiful." She realized the dragon carving that introduced them was his work as well. It appeared the Force granted him with many gifts, perhaps to make up for his difficult childhood. It's something she told herself. Something she didn't quite accept.

Anakin watched her with a shy smile and eyes that yearned for something he didn't quite understand. They both missed Jorah's approach.

"Come with us," he offered the boy, as they'd discussed. "Complete your training."

It was clear he wanted nothing more. But the moment stretched out in silence as he contemplated what it meant. The sand kicked up around their feet, swirling with stirred emotions.

"Thank you, ser," he answered finally. "But I can't."

Daenerys touched his shoulder. The sand swirled around them both.

"You can't leave your mother."

He shook his head. Shmi was still a slave, whatever Jorah did for Anakin, he could not accomplish for them both. He'd told them he dreamed of freeing her. He dreamed of freeing them all. That dream had to take precedence over her's, even over the one they shared. She nodded her understanding and slipped the japor snippet over her head, to rest beside her kyber crystal, and her heart.

"I won't forget you, Anakin Skywalker. They tried to chain you but you broke free. When my dragons are built I will come back for you, and we will break them all."

She leaned forward to drop a cord around his neck as well. A second kyber crystal, smaller than hers, and twinkling blue in the light of the suns, fell against his chest. She saw Jorah clench his jaw but the knight said nothing. Daenerys pressed her lips to his forehead. A promise.

Anakin grinned and answered lightly, to break the tension, "Not if I free them first."

Daenerys laughed. Even Jorah smiled.

A girl called that all the supplies were loaded and the new passengers on board. Jorah gave Anakin a small bow, in respect and walked away to the ship.

"I'll see you again."

He nodded, his expression one of determined conviction, his fingers lingered on the crystal she'd gifted him. Daenerys turned and made her way on board, the ship's plank closed up behind her, in effect swallowing her whole.

She moved to a window to watch their ascent. She locked eyes with Anakin and kept watching long after he'd disappeared and all she could see was sand, and then stars. 


	9. Interlude

_The Time Between Fifteen Years Later and Ten Years Later_

# Boba

On Kamino you were always wet. It was always raining, always cold, always gloomy, always dark, and always boring.

And Boba Fett was always lonely.

His father took him out with him as often as he could. He was even teaching him the trade. But the kind of people who hired bounty hunters didn't respect one who carted a kid around no matter how well trained. So he stayed many days on Kamino, alone.

Not really alone, of course. There were tens of thousands of men and other boys there but they are all the same. All automatons who followed orders. Whatever their genetic make up they were nothing like his father, nothing like him.

The cloners were even less like him. They were tall and weird and kind of see through and they all looked at him like he was a toy that escaped the box. And they wanted to put him back. Anyway, he could never be friends with creepers who made people in a factory. Who took pride it it! None of the criminals his dad worked for were as bad as that.

Sometimes a young woman visited. She had long blonde hair and was pretty in a mean scowling way. She carried herself like she was better than them all and most of them believed it. She would bark orders at the clones, and at the cloners, and even at his father. She was disdainful to everyone - everyone except him. Boba she mostly ignored. But every once in awhile she would appear at his side with a gift. Nothing special, nothing worth anything, trinkets someone on some far planet gave her and she had no use for. Trinkets _he_ had no use for, but he liked having a friend.

Once or twice an old man came with her. He thought it was her father, but he didn't treat her like a daughter. He treated her like a servant, and she called him Master. He wasn't dressed like a Jedi though, and everyone else called him Chancellor. Boba wasn't introduced, of course. He just watched from afar.

"Getting big, boy."

Boba scowled. Stupid clones. They mostly ignored him, too, but some of them would ask him to eat with them. Sometimes even train. And sometimes he would. He didn't like being alone. But it wasn't much better being with clones.

"Not like you," he answered. Boba and this clone were the same age chronologically, but the others were genetically altered to age rapidly until they hit adulthood. 

"Some day." The clone knocked their shoulders together with affection. "Then you'll join our ranks. Fight for the glory of the Republic alongside your brothers."

"No," said Boba, his scowl darkening. "That's not me." 

# Anakin

The first few years of freedom were hard for Anakin. He was very isolated, no longer fit with the community he grew up in. At first he was a symbol of hope, but he soon became an apex for resentment. He left when they started shunning his mother. 

He tried to win her freedom by racing but without outside funding his options were limited, and they kept changing the rules. The slavers didn't want him to win, or even race, it was too good a story, brought too much attention to their practices. The racers didn't respect him, engineers refused to work with him, and whenever he did convince someone to sponsor him, he was a target for everyone else in the race. He never saw any winnings from the races. The whole system was corrupt by design.

He made a deal with Watto to pay off Shmi's debt by working at the junk shop but the slavers intervened to make sure no one shopped there as long as the boy was employed. He quit when Watto threatened to sell Shmi to a proprietor of pleasure barges. He couldn't find work anywhere else, either. The only people willing to pay were farmers and they didn't want the hassle of training a famous former slave.

Anakin was a genius with machines and a brilliant pilot. There were many opportunities open to him off planet, that his mother encouraged him to take. But he was stubborn and refused to listen, refused to leave her behind. He sold his racer to a collector, gave Shmi half the credits and used the rest to set up shop in the starport. He quickly gained a strong reputation. The story of the young slave who won himself free was a draw but his skills surpassed the superficial. Anakin could fix anything and was especially gifted with droids. He spoke their language.

Anakin gave his credits to Shmi and she gave them to the community. He was angry at first, the money was meant to buy her freedom. But she argued she was close to him and safe enough and they should save as many children as they could. They couldn't make big moves, nothing that would draw attention from the Hutts, but they made small deals. Many of those they freed chose to stay and work with Anakin and he built up a tiny network set up across the city, and an encampment in the desert.

Sometimes, often, he dreamt of Daenerys. He designed a lightsaber to use with the crystal she left him, built it out of scraps abandoned in the starport and parts traded with smugglers. He taught himself how to use it by mimicking styles he saw Jedi perform in newsreels. He'd practice surrounded by sand and sometimes heard a voice he recognized as Jorah's. 

Years went by. They heard snippets of news - there was a battle raging in the capitol. The wealthy wanted control, some politicians wanted to fight back, create an army, others opposed it. The Jedi were supposedly neutral but everyone wanted to know their opinion. It's mostly noise to Anakin, but sounded like what happens on his planet, in his city, just blown up bigger. He hoped Daenerys was safe.

He continued to work, and focused on discovering a way to find and safely remove the slave transmitters. They were freeing two or three slaves a season, and they were just replaced with more. Disabling the tracker system was the only way they would all be freed. Finding proved easier than removing. Older slaves donated their bodies to his cause, and once a mother brought her daughter who was killed in a mining accident. Her silent face haunted him.

Eventually he figured out a process, a frequency that could fry the link, after which the deactivated machine can be excised. If left in place the nonfunctioning orb would leak fluids that would poison the slaves - a backup cruelty on the part of the slavers. Some slaves wanted them deactivated even if he couldn't remove it - they would rather be free and dying than slaves any longer - and he accepted their choice, but it hurt to watch them die because he wasn't skilled enough. He kept working, determined that more power would make the frequency fry the poisonous trap too, but he didn't have a way to get more power.

He flopped back on the sand to watch the stars. _You're a dragon_ , she'd told him, _with wings to fly across the stars_. Anakin didn't feel much like a dragon. He was tired. Tired and angry. It wasn't fair that his mother was still a slave. It wasn't fair that little girls died underground. It wasn't fair that no matter how many people he freed there were more he couldn't. It wasn't fair he was stuck on this dustball planet his whole life and would never get to fly across the stars. A tear dripped down his cheek and splashed onto the crystal he still wore around his neck when he wasn't training.

It started to glow. Anakin grasped the crystal with his fingers and held it up to get a better look. Its glow made the sand sparkle in the dark.

In the morning he started investigating the crystal's properties and limits. He didn't want to drain it, or risk breaking it. He worried that his Force connection to Daenerys and Jorah could break too. But if he could save more people… They would understand. 

# Ahsoka

Ahsoka was not sure about her Master. Jaime was nice enough, and certainly talented, but he was _so strict_ about the Code. Plo Koon and Yoda had made everything a "teaching moment" but Jaime made everything a lesson.

"This weapon is your life."

What did that _even mean_? That if she was caught without her lightsaber she'll die? That didn't take into account all the other skills she's learning. Or that battles were supposed to be the last resort. Did he mean that lightsabers represent Jedi? So... Jedi were weapons? A lot of people in the Senate would probably agree. But what kind of life is that? Ahsoka didn't want to be a _weapon_. And it's contradictory, too. Jaime also said the Jedi were keepers of the peace. But if peace only existed at the point of a brightly lit weapon...was that really peace? Ahsoka had a lot of questions but she didn't know how to ask them in a way he'd understand and not judge. So she didn't.

"Yes, Master."

Jaime and his sister had been assigned to the office of the Chancellor since Palpatine was elected. Ahsoka could tell Jaime was restless. Working for the Chancellor meant a lot of appearances, and meetings with dignitaries, and attending ten hour long Senate sessions. She didn't know which he hated more: the politics or the dancing. Cersei and Padmé, however, were brilliant at it.

Ahsoka found Jaime's overbearing sister pretty intimidating, more than the Chancellor even. Palpatine treated her like a child, if he noticed her at all, but in an aloof grandfatherly kind of way. Cersei was always glaring and criticizing. No matter what she wore or said or did, it was wrong in Cersei's eyes. Ahsoka would say she was annoyed that she took up so much of Jaime's time and attention, jealous even, but Jedi aren't supposed to be like that. She decided it was best for everybody if she kept away from Cersei, at least as much as she reasonably could.

Padmé, on the other hand, Ahsoka liked a lot. She was always kind, and willing to talk. She took it upon herself to be another mentor and taught Ahsoka how the government worked and how to present herself. All the stuff Jaime didn't care about it and Cersei wouldn't teach her, but expected her to know. Plus Padmé was better at explaining things. Ahsoka decided she didn't like politics any more than Jaime did but because it didn't seem to work, not because she didn't understand. Padmé was also the first, and only, one to welcome her to their strange little community when Ahsoka was first made Jaime's apprentice and moved into the apartment. Like jealousy, Jedi don't worry about making someone feel at home, but still Ahsoka appreciated it. Padmé was always looking out for her even though she seemed to be the busiest of the four.

Padmé was talking to a bunch of other Senators, like she did after every session these days. Ahsoka recognized a few, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma and the new girl she'd been introduced to just last week, her name was...Riyo Chuchi. She and Jaime were too far to hear what they were talking about but it had them pretty animated and when Padmé finally joined them she was practically glowing. At least until she noted the scowl on Jaime's face.

"You really don't like politicians do you?"

He didn't and Ahsoka often wondered why he was assigned to the most powerful politician of all - except that he was Cersei's twin and Cersei was good at it and enjoyed it.

"I like two or three," Jaime argued in a light, teasing tone, "but I'm not really sure about one of them."

The two shared a look that belied affection and lingered a moment too long. Padmé glanced away and launched into her latest points of argument against the proposal to commission a Grand Army of the Republic. She spoke with great passion and Ahsoka dutifully took notes and pretended like she hadn't seen anything.

But she had. Ahsoka realized Jaime was so strict about the Code to remind himself. 

# Daenerys

It took years but her dragons were built. Years to craft the design, more years to procure the highly specialized parts, and all of it under a veil of secrecy because kraydt engines were illegal in the Republic. But only as illegal as slavery so her dragons were built. And in the process she built a coalition of cohorts. The broken and abandoned, the outlawed and underestimated. She was a champion for all those the Republic ignored because they were messy or noisy or too far way.

"Your dragons are built, Khaleesi." She ran a hand across the smooth skin of the ship. "What do you want to do with them?

Daenerys smiled, a fierce smile, her eyes alight with fire. "I will meet injustice with justice," she proclaimed and pulled up a map of the Outer Rim.


	10. Anakin

_Ten Years Later_

They arrived on Tatooine at night, cut their lights as they approached and landed quicky and quietly in the desert. It was dark, even the moonlight was low as she slipped from her ship and made her way into the encampment. The ship was different from the one he remembered, bigger and in better repair, and their clothes had improved as well. Daenerys's long blonde hair tumbled down her back, bright white against the desert night, coiled in a crown of braids around her head like a halo. It was if she stepped out of his dreams.

Distracted, Anakin was late waving off the guard and they roared in their native tongue as they reach the threshold of the camp. Startled, Daenerys froze and Jorah activated his saber, antagonizing the sand people further. Anakin jumped up, shouting for the Tuskens to quiet while signaling Jorah to lower his weapon. Both sides acknowledged him and crisis averted he turned to his guests with shy smile.

"Sorry. They're wary of outsiders, but loyal when you get to know them." He'd been living amongst the sand people for three years or so, ever since Jabba cracked down on his operation in Mos Espa.

"Ani." Her smile lit up her face, making it somehow even more beautiful. Her eyes swept over his body, taking it all in. He'd been an undernourished child when they met. Now he towered over her, lean but strong, and all grown up. 

"Khaleesi, there are eyes everywhere. We should get inside."

Anakin turned his smile to the old knight. "Ser Jorah."

"It is good to see you, Anakin, but-"

He nodded. "Yes, come on." Anakin ushered Daenerys and her small group of advisors into one of the larger tents. A table was set up at the far wall with a map of the surrounding area and tokens representing the various factions. Most of the tokens were nondescript shapes colored to indicate enemy or ally, but a handful were more intricate. Daenerys picked up one figure of a woman, all white but for a gold crown on top of her long curls. Her eyes lit up, recognizing the artistry as well as the subject. The wood was smooth in her hand, and also familiar.

"Japor?" He nodded, and wanted to say more, but they were in close quarters and had a battle to discuss. She replaced the figure on the table. "Is everything ready?"

"Exactly as you specified," Anakin confirmed, a fire in his eyes. "We've been waiting a long time for this."

"And the Hutts?"

"We have an audience with Jabba in the morning."

She nodded and they all leaned in to go over the plans.

Based on her expression Jabba the Hutt was even more disgusting than Daenerys imagined. His slimy slug body took up the entire dais and rolls of fat jiggled when he spoke. A pale young man, his translator, stood to his left, shivering in place. He was barely more than a child, and new to the palace. Anakin briefly wondered what happened to the last man in the position but it was better not to find out. Jabba used games to punish those who disappointed him, games he never lost. A barely clothed young woman was chained to the platform, her fine fur matted where the Hutt licked her. Daenerys's eyes narrowed.

Jorah clasped his hands to address the room. "May I present Daenerys Stormborn of Targarya, Khaleesi of the-"

Jabba's deep voice interrupted the litany of titles. "His excellency knows who you are," the translator explained.

Daenerys raised her chin. "Then he knows why I am here."

The Hutt laughed and said something clearly derogatory that made the crowd of minions and other slavers join in. The translator cleared his throat, blushing but stayed quiet upon catching the queen's glare. She didn't need to know the words to understand their meaning. 

Anakin took a step forward. "Mighty Jabba, Lady Daenerys simply wants to see the camps, to know the people you — protect are safe and well cared for." He offered a small bow, snuck a look to Daenerys, still glaring daggers at the Hutt. It was refreshing to see someone be so openly hostile to the slaver, if dangerous. Meeting his worried gaze, Jorah placed a calming hand on her arm.

Jabba barked an answer, with another low laugh. "Jabba agrees," said the translator.

"Thank you."

The slave camps were similar to the settlement Anakin grew up in, but more cramped and though it seems impossible, somehow more dusty. But his childhood was filled with the noises of life. Here the people were quiet and still. They all watched with vacant expressions, their skin thirsty and suns drenched. They were alive, but not living.

One small girl followed along as they made their way, watching with wide, curious eyes, but careful to stay steps out of reach. Daenerys approached her and offered water from her personal canteen. But the child shied away, curled her tiny body in on herself in fear. Daenerys frowned and turned to their Twi'lek escort.

"I wish to purchase this girl."

Jorah and Anakin shared a worried look. The Twi'lek shrugged. "I will let Jabba know."

" _Now_." The escort looked at her sharply but she doesn't waver and finally he bowed.

"Remain here."

Anakin and Jorah shared another look as he shuffled off.

"Khaleesi—"

She raised a hand to stall his objection. "One. _Child_ , Ser Jorah."

"It is never just one," he sighed. Her cause was noble, her passion commendable, but they were lacking warriors, not children.

"Look around you," she hissed. "No one should live like this."

"You cannot claim all of them," Anakin told her, his voice bitter, and tired. He had tried.

"I can, and I will," she vowed.

The Twi'lek returned with the terms of purchase. Daenerys waved her hand in agreement, and nodded to Jabba, watching in the distance. Jorah pressed her code into the electronic ledger and returned it to their escort.

"It is done," he pronounced.

Daenerys crouched down and gestured to the girl. This time she took the canteen and drunk with a deep thirst. When she'd had her fill, Daenerys steered her to Jorah with an admonishment to stay close. The knight picked her up into his arms.

On cue they were surrounded. Jorah reached for his weapon but the child was in the way and Anakin's saber was at Daenerys's throat.

"I'm sorry."

His eyes were tortured, hers were on fire.

"You will be."

The guards stripped Jorah and Daenerys of any weapons and marched to meet Jabba. Jorah was forced to his knees, Daenerys presented to the Hutt. As his tongue slipped out to flick her cheek and his slobber ran down her body, Jorah tried to break free and was knocked to the ground.

Anakin growled, low and mean. "My payment, Jabba."

The Hutt grunted and a lackey gestured to a corner of the camp. Anakin ran, dropped to the ground by a woman slumped over, her wrists tied to a stake.

"Mom..."

He untied her binds and carefully lowered her body. "Mom, I'm here. You're safe."

Shmi stirred in his arms. "...Ani...? Ani?"

He nodded, tears in his eyes and throat. "It's okay, Mom. You're gonna be okay."

"Ani..." she whispered and slipped back into unconsciousness. Rage filled him like a volcano, but he can't let them see. He had to get Shmi away from this place. He pulled her up into his arms and walked back the way he came. He forced himself not to look at the captives as he walked past, not to check if Jorah woke up, not to imagine Jabba with Daenerys. He kept his eyes straight ahead and carried his mother cradled against his chest out of the camp and into the desert.

The little girl ran after. 


	11. Daenerys

The sail barge was disgusting. It was loud and overcrowded and the smell would haunt her for days. The get up they'd dressed her in was uncomfortable in every way, she felt lightheaded, and the chain that leashed her to Jabba barely allowed her to reach the window. Jorah was on a separate smaller barge set to be delivered to the sarlaac. 

The suns were high in the sky as they zoomed past endless sand and sweat pooled around her belly. She feared she would never be clean again. Jorah's bruises were visible even from this far but he stood tall. He met her eyes and she smiled.

Jabba growled a question and when she ignored him he tugged her chain and the translator got in her face.

"Why do you smile, schutta?"

Daenerys was dragged back to the dais to answer. She raised her chin in defiance.

"I saw this place in a dream."

Jabba and the translator laughed. "This place isn't special, the whole planet looks like this." He spit at the floor.

Daenerys stood before them, head held high, ignoring the laughter.

"I arrived in chains, surrounded by enemies, to witness a death." She nodded toward the window. "But instead I was reborn." The crowd drifted toward her words, captivated. "The sand burned. Silver smoke filled the skies. And I rose from the ashes holding lightning in my hands."

The crowd around the dais was still, listening and imagining the scene she described, but Jabba's bellow filled the room and they all fell back, some listless, without hope, others snarling their assured superiority. Jabba commented, she raised an eyebrow to the skittish translator.

"A charming fantasy, for a woman. Jabba looks forward to your storytelling. For as long as you last."

Daenerys flashed an unkind smile. "I am no ordinary woman. My dreams come true."

The floor jerked as the barge was suddenly anchored. The crowd listed toward the windows amidst much shouting and more than a few people tipped out the windows and onto the desert below, now occupied by a crowd of sand people and slaves, shooting, slashing, biting, and dragging the vehicle down. Across the way Jorah was joined by Anakin and both were swinging lightsabers. In the confusion Jabba tipped off his dais and shouted for help, but no one came to his aid.

Daenerys flung her chain around the slaver's neck and pulled, drawing on all her rage. Her hands started to crackle and sparks ignited the chain. Jabba gurgled and whined as the metal seared into his flesh and he was strangled. His tongue flopped, his eyes rolled back and as he fell lifeless to the ground he burst into flames that quickly consumed the whole barge. Daenerys walked out untouched.

The battle was swift and spanned the entire settlement, Jabba's stronghold on Tatooine. A handful of Hutts and their allies escaped into space but most were murdered by their slaves, with three captured and sentenced to death.

Daenerys walked through the village to applause and acclaim. The little girl she'd freed first ran to her and flung her arms around her waist, chattering delightedly about the role she played in the insurrection. Anakin followed slower, but just as happy. She grasped his hand when he reached them.

"It worked."

"Exactly as you planned." He nodded to a wall, still sporting the painted instructions _Kill the masters._

Daenerys beamed. "And your mother?"

"Safe in the Tusken Village. She's weak but… she's free."

Daenerys nodded. She understood. Even if Shmi died of her wounds, which she read as likely in Anakin's eyes, she lived to see this. To see triumph over adversity and chains broken across the sands. To see her son win not just for himself, but for them all.

Anakin was looking at Daenerys the way Jorah did. As if she was precious. Strangely she could not look away. 

The connection was broken by Jorah's approach. "The palace is intact, Khaleesi." He didn't say anything but his eyes noted the charge between them.

"Excellent. Have it cleared and cleaned - I want no remnants of that beast."

Anakin cocked his head. "You're moving in?"

"The yard is big enough for my ships and there is space for all my people," she explained, "with room for any of these who want to stay." 

Anakin grinned. He wanted to stay. She wanted him to stay. She wanted him. Briefly she imagined inviting him into her bed. In a way, he'd been sharing it for years...but the physical possibilities were exciting to contemplate.

"How long will it take to disarm all the trackers?" Jorah's question pulled her back from fantasy. There was still much work to be done. 

"With three of us..." Anakin mused, meaning him, her, and Jorah, "Well, not more than two cycles of the moon. Hopefully less. I'll start with the children." He kneeled down to be level with the little girl.

"The Republic will hear of this," Jorah warned.

Daenerys's eyes flashed. "Good. They've ignored corruption in the Outer Rim too long." She grew thoughtful. "Do you think they'll send someone?"

He nodded. "Most likely a Jedi. Especially if they hear of Anakin's plan."

They both glanced to Anakin, sharing some kind of secret with the child.

"Then I will need a court."

Anakin looked up. "Oh!" He stood. "I have something for you." He gestured past them and a droid walked over. It was not as sophisticated as one in the Republic, it's coverings were patchwork, and sand particles dotted them, but Anakin was beaming again.

"A protocol droid?"

He nodded. "Meet C-3PO. I made him for Mom but we agree he should be yours."

The droid gave her a little bow. "How may I serve you?"

A wide smile crossed her face. "He's perfect." 


	12. Ahsoka

She wasn't often called to the Chancellor's office. The others were, but Jaime less than Cersei or Padmé, and Ahsoka basically never. But here they all were, gathered around the holo, scenes of a battle playing out in a desert.

"What is it?" her Master asked.

"An uprising on Tatooine," the Chancellor explained as he took his seat.

"Where?"

"A desert planet in the Outer Rim," Padmé provided. 

Cersei rolled her eyes. "Why should we care? The Republic has no jurisdiction over the Outer Rim."

"It is the third such revolt in five years. Slavers are being targeted. It is beginning to disrupt the balance of power."

The young people grow silent, considering his words.

"Also-"

He pushed a button and the scenes shifted. A young woman, pale and beautiful, was shouting - making some kind of speech, possibly - flanked by two men, tall, forbidding, one older, one young, both armed with lightsabers. 

"Master Mormont," Cersei murmured.

Another shift and the scene was replaced by a poor recording of three ships flying in formation. They didn't look like anything she'd seen before but they were beautiful and they way they flew was like a dance.

Jaime's breath caught. "Are those-?"

"Kradyt engines," the Chancellor confirmed. "Jedi dragons."

Ahsoka's eyes went wide.

"But that technology was lost ages ago...!"

Ahsoka glanced to her Master. He was gazing at the holo in wonder.

"Buried. Banished. Not lost."

The way the Chancellor said 'buried' and 'banished' sent shivers down her spine and she hoped everyone was too distracted by the pretty magic ancient ships and rogue Jedi to notice.

"They freed slaves?" Padmé asked. Ahsoka was not surprised she was still focused on the revolt. Padmé wasn't interested in ships or tech generally.

"Killed all the slavers."

Ahsoka started to think everything sounded creepy when the Chancellor said it and she hoped it wasn't treasonous to think so. Good thing he wasn't Force sensitive or otherwise clairvoyant. 

"And now?"

The Chancellor frowned. Almost imperceptibly but Ahsoka was hyperfocused. "Unclear."

"But they're not … plotting an attack on the capitol…?" Padmé persisted.

"Not that we are aware."

Padmé frowned. Cersei rolled her eyes again.

"What are you on about?"

"Why are we…?" Padmé waved at the screen, turned back to the three strangers. Or two strangers and a Jedi Master that at least Cersei knew. Ahsoka was starting to get a headache. "We should let them be."

"Ignore them until they pose a threat?" scoffed Cersei. 

"Well…. Yes…!" 

"That is no way to rule."

Ahsoka looked back and forth between the two women, her eyes going wider with each volley.

"We're not-"

"You can't-"

They both fall silent at Palpatine's raised hand. Cersei turned to the Chancellor.

"We should at least talk to them, ask them what they plan."

A long silent moment passed.

"I'll go," Padmé said. Jaime shot her a concerned look.

"Good," the Chancellor agreed. "But you will need protection. Take Jaime and his padawan."

Ahsoka gasped.

Cersei stiffened. " ...The Order..." she stammered.

"The Order will agree," Palpatine stated in a tone that brooked no argument. "Prepare."

"Yes, ser."

"Yes, ser," Ahsoka echoed her Master.

The two Jedi bowed and followed Padmé out of the room. At the elevator Ahsoka glanced back to see Palpatine turn to Cersei but they were swept away before she saw any more.


	13. Anakin

There were a hundred rooms in the palace complex, all of them bigger than any he'd called his own. But Anakin preferred the outdoors. The palace, like most of the buildings on Tatooine, was mainly underground and Anakin never really felt safe if he couldn't see the sky. Daenerys moved her ever expanding collection of refugees into the palace and Anakin moved all his tools into a shed in the hanger bay and slept on its roof.

His mother was moved into a room in the wing Daenerys chose for herself and provided every luxury they had access to. The rooms across the way were set up as what passed for a medical wing - they still didn't have anyone with Republic training, or even a medic droid, just a handful of midwives and herbalists who were skilled and smart but could do nothing to save a body from decades of misuse. Nearly all the slaves over fifty were ill or injured or both and almost half of them died before they could begin the discussions of resettling.

"Their bodies gave up once they were allowed to rest," Jorah offered a distraught Daenerys. "There was nothing more you could do."

"They died free," Anakin added in a hushed voice and took her hand. "Their children are free."

It wasn't enough, he knew, but she nodded and pretended it could be.

Anakin and Daenerys worked tirelessly to deactivate and destroy the slave trackers and work with community leaders to integrate the various populations. Jorah gathered intel from sources across the galaxy to learn how their march across the Outer Rim was playing. He and Daenerys spent hours plotting next steps; Anakin mostly listened, and learned. Every day he visited his mother. Shared a meal, caught her up with the news of the day. She didn't really understand much of it, but she loved the sound of his voice, confident and happy.

"I flew today, Mom." They'd taken the dragons for a test run in the canyon. Just quick, nothing fancy, but it was the first time he piloted anything since he'd sold his racer. "It was amazing. Better than any race." There was no agenda, no path, just wings.

Shmi died sixteen days after the uprising. Daenerys offered a funeral pyre, a full ceremony, as befitted the woman who helped her when she was little more than a refugee herself. But Anakin chose to bury her in the sand with the other elders. Jorah helped dig the grave and whispered to the wind he would watch over the boy as well as the girl.

Word came that representatives from the Republic were on their way. As predicted, a Jedi, as well as the senator from the Chancellor's homeplanet. They were nearly done with removal of the trackers so preparation for their arrival became the priority. Anakin was out of his element but he threw himself into the task. Staying busy kept grief at bay, and promoting the long history and rich culture of the outer rim gave him purpose. His people had been subjugated by slavers and criminals for generations because the government turned a blind eye. Daenerys forced them to look and Jorah wanted to focus on the horror but Anakin wanted to show off their beauty.

The suns were dipping below the horizon the day before expected arrival. "It's enough, Khaleesi." Jorah pressed the button to deactivate the holo and it blinked away leaving Daenerys staring at nothing. She pursed her lips. "Get some rest." He glanced to Anakin on the balcony, his gaze flickering between the sky and the queen. They both nodded good night and Jorah made his way out of the suite.

Daenerys walked slowly to join Anakin on the balcony. They'd been dancing around their attraction for weeks now. There always seemed to be something more important to deal with.

"Why are you called Stormborn?"

Daenerys had a lot of titles. Threepio was thrilled and enjoyed downloading the history of each and expounding on it to anyone who would listen. But 'Stormborn' didn't sound Republic or royal, it sounded like a name someone from Tatooine would have.

"I was born in a storm."

"...Really?"

She laughed, a real laugh, that lit up her face. "Really." He grinned. "I'm told it raged all day and night, outside and in, darkness covered the stars and they only returned when I started to cry."

"That's a good story." It too sounded like the kind of legend told in the desert. A vocal history passed from parent to child.

"Why are you called Skywalker?"

"I don't know...I mean, it was my mother's name but..." He chewed his bottom lip, suddenly shy. "My mother was a slave all her life. She would watch the sky, but she never walked it."

She followed his gaze to the stars. His fingers twitched at his side, Anakin always had difficulty staying still. Daenerys threaded her fingers through his and he relaxed.

"You will."

"I wish she could see it," he murmured.

Daenerys pressed his hand and he turned to meet her eyes. There was longing in his gaze for more than the stars. The intensity caught her breath and she glanced away.

"I never knew my mother. The storm killed her."

Anakin didn't know what to say. He moved closer, turned his body toward hers, protectively. She raised her eyes back to look at him directly.

"We have to make their sacrifice worth it."

She was so close he felt her breath on his lips and finally he closed the space between them.

The kiss was sudden, almost violent in its desperation, but as it deepened it softened and when they pulled apart their smiles were the same. Anakin ran a hand through her hair, playfully grasped a curl and pulled her up into his arms. The stars twinkled across the sky as he carried her to the bed. 


	14. Cersei

"Thank you for waiting."

Cersei was ushered into the Council chambers and took her place in the center of the room.

"You have a report from the Chancellor?"

She nodded. "The Chancellor's envoy has arrived on Tatooine and is set to begin discussions with the Lady Regent Daenerys tomorrow."

Master Mundi leaned forward. "And the dragons?"

A low murmur filled the room.

"My—" She paused for a breath and began again. "Master Lannister will provide a report when he has inspected them."

Yoda and Windu shared look of concern, they did not like this talk of dragons.

"Has he confirmed the presence of Jorah Mormont?"

"I don't know, sir. But the recordings are clear." 

Master Mormont had left the Order a few years after Cersei was apprenticed to Sifo-Dyas. His name had been linked to the girl from Targarya for years but the recent footage proved he remained a practicing Force user, had even taken on a padawan learner. It was troubling the Council.

"Very well. We look forward to his report."

Cersei bowed but hesitated and Yoda stopped her from leaving.

"Troubled you are."

"I am sorry, Masters. I know I should not—" She lowered her eyes to convey shame. "Fear is a path to the Dark Side."

Master Windu frowned. "What are you afraid of?"

She took a deep breath, channelled all her forbidden feelings into the tale.

"My Master— Sifo-Dyas," Cersei looked up to see their reactions to the name. "...he was plagued with visions." Yoda did not move but Mace's lips were pressed into a tight flat line. "...terrible things," she continued, "a great darkness that covered the Republic, the Order, the whole galaxy after years of violence. He would wake screaming."

She gazed at each in turn, unflinching, pouring her fear and anger into the space between them, the tendrils of the Force she knew they were communing with as she spoke. She did not need to pretend. Her anger at being abandoned to a mad man was pure and she wanted them all to feel it.

"He took measures."

Mace frowned. " What do you mean?"

She took a breath. "Before his death, Master Sifo-Dyas placed an order for a clone army."  The Masters rustled in their chairs. "He said it was on behalf of the Senate and with the full cooperation of the Jedi Order. But neither the Chancellor nor the Queen has ever mentioned it- none of the senators have. I should have told someone years ago but— no one believed Master Sifo-Dyas...and I was already isolated."

Again, Cersei allowed them to feel her truths, the loneliness she suffered without her brother. She wouldn't have to pretend to be a good little Jedi much longer anyway, the Chancellor had promised her the endgame was near.

"Who else of this army knows?"

"Jaime," she admitted. "And I told the Chancellor today." Her eyes grew wide with fear, and her voice pitched upward. "The Separatists have been building their droid armies for years and now the Outer Rim worlds have ancient weapons of mass destruction… My Master's war is coming, the clones may be our only chance!"

The mood in the Council room had grown dark and uncomfortable.

"Where do we find these cloners?"

"Kamino." Master Windu pulled up a starmap on his chair's console. "It's beyond the Outer Rim, one or two parsecs past the Rishi Maze."

He shuffled through the area. "It's not in the databanks."

"Someone must have removed it." The Jedi raised an eyebrow. "It is _real_ ," she answered, "I have been there!"

Windu shared another look with Yoda. 

"Investigate this we must."

The Council dismissed her to discuss details, admonishing her to remain close, they may have additional questions. Cersei bowed and pivoted toward the exit. As the doors closed between her and the Council she closed her Force connection with a swift nod, then allowed herself a small smile of triumph.


	15. Ahsoka

Tatooine was hot, dusty, and dry, and the suns light was harsh as they made their way from Padmé's ship. The senator, two Jedi, and Jaime's astromech droid, R2-D2.

The queen was not wearing her facepaint. Ahsoka knew she didn't like it, that it no longer felt like a tribute but a mockery of Naboo's history and culture, and only painted her face under orders from the Chancellor. She was also dressed more simply than usual, with fewer layers and little adornment, but the blue was striking against the seemingly endless sand. As the three approached the palace- formerly Jabba the Hutt's, but now the stronghold of Daenerys and her allies - they were met by a droid.

"Hello. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. Queen Daenerys is expecting you."

The Republic trio shared a surprise look. Queen?

The palace doors slid open and the droid gestured for them to enter. Padmé started walking but Jaime stepped in her path and gestured for Ahsoka to close in behind. Padmé shot him a look of disapproval.

"Excuse me. I am in charge of security, milady."

Padmé clearly didn't like it but she accepted his pronouncement and Jaime turned to the droid, gestured for him to lead the way. "Please." 

They followed Threepio down a dark, creepy corridor to the throne room. A small crowd of the queen's supporters were lined on either side, watching their progression. It was all appropriately intimidating, but Ahsoka forced her eyes forward. The throne room was lit with torches behind refracted glass that gave the impression of a starfield indoors. Daenerys was seated on a raised platform in a chair carved out of stone. Two men, one young and one older, stood to either side. Both had lightsabers at their belt, just like in the holo, and the queen wore a kyber crystal around her neck.

Daenerys was stunningly beautiful, her hair styled in elaborate braids - a Tatooine tradition - and dressed all in white, in contrast to the men in dark leathers and the room carved of stone. Threepio shuffled forward and took his place beside the platform. Daenerys stood and nodded for him to make introductions.

"Esteemed guests," the droid's voice filled the room, "May I present Daenerys Stormborn of Targarya, Khaleesi of the Wild Space, Lady Regent of the Outer Rim, Breaker of Chains, Huttslayer, and Dragon Queen."

"Welcome," the queen intoned.

Jaime and Padmé glanced at each other, not entirely certain how to proceed. She was different than they expected.

Artoo nudged her knee. Ahsoka took a breath and bowed, like she would to a Master. "Uh, may I present Queen Amidala, Senator of Naboo, and envoy for the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic." A beat passed. "And Jaime Lannister, Jedi Knight."

Daenerys smiled and returned to her seat. "I have looked forward to meeting a Jedi."

Jaime's eyes flickered to Jorah. Daenerys cocked her head. "Did you know Ser Jorah?" Padmé and Ahsoka glanced to Jaime, curious too.

"Not well." He hesitated, thoughtful. "My Master spoke of him as a friend."

"Qui-Gon was a good man," Jorah murmured. "I was sorry to hear of his death." Jaime nodded. Years had passed but it remained a painful memory. "We could use his help."

The Jedi's face darkened. "Qui-Gon Jinn would _never_ leave the Order."

Jorah's eyes were not unkind. "Don't be so sure my young Jedi. He knew all about the corruption in the Republic."

Ahsoka's eyes went wide but Jaime was troubled. Master Mormont sounded like Cersei or Sifo-Dyas. Behind them Padmé held her breath.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Daenerys answered, in a clear, commanding voice. "The Republic has allowed slavery to flourish outside its borders. Do you truly believe it is absent within them?" Ahsoka blinked. "Your own planet has not been self-governing in over a decade," the queen continued, looking at Padmé and Jaime in turn, "The Jedi Order treat the Force as their birthright, anyone who dares use its power without their permission is an aberration and condemned as Dark, wielding it for the wrong reasons and in the wrong ways."

"That's not fair," Jaime argued, advancing toward the dais, angry eyes flashing between the queen and the former Jedi at her side. "Everything you know about the Jedi you learned from a traitor!"

Daenerys turned to him sharply. "Ser Jorah is the most honorable man I know," she answered through clenched teeth, "and you will not insult him in my presence."

"Or what? You'll have me beheaded?"

There was an angry flash and suddenly the room was crowded with the light of four lit sabers, Jorah and Ahsoka in defensive stances, Jaime and Anakin ready to strike. Padmé jumped at the display but Daenerys watched, unfazed.

"Jaime, stand down," Padmé ordered when she'd gathered herself. He reluctantly moved back and dimmed his saber, the other three followed suit. "We came here to listen," she continued, telling both Jaime and Daenerys.

Daenerys's gaze swept over the young woman, contemplating. "Your senate in ineffective."

Padmé pursed her lips and stepped closer, lowered her voice. "My lady, may we speak in confidence?"

Daenerys looked surprised, and, Ahsoka thought, pleased. She stood and gestured to her droid.

"Threepio." He bowed. "Scramble the transmission generator and turn off internal recording." The droid shuffled over to the wall and tapped commands into a small console. After a moment he bowed again and Daenerys glanced to Jorah. He pressed a button on the floor and a ray shield appeared catching the six of them, but not Threepio or Artoo. Jaime looked wary and Ahsoka agreed but they'd agreed on the way to follow Padmé's lead.

The senator took a deep breath. "I agree. The democracy I was elected to serve no longer exists."

Jaime gasped. "Padmé!"

She shot him a sharp look to be quiet. "Ten years ago my actions put the Chancellor in power. I thought it was in the best interests of my people but their suffering has only increased and an evil is spreading across the galaxy. The Jedi," she paused for a breath, "are not at fault, but I fear they are being used the way I am - as pawns to a dictator."

She turned to meet Jaime's eyes, begging him to understand. "I have been meeting with a select group of senators and planetary leaders, we have growing support to remove the Chancellor from power."

Ahsoka heard a noise and something shimmered out the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look everything was silent and still.

"Who are these senators?" Jaime demanded.

"People I trust." Padmé grasped his hand, wanting to convey that he should trust her, that she trusts him, but he noticed she didn't say any names. "People who don't want a Grand Army of the Republic." She turned back to Daenerys, watching them with interest. "Or a war with the Outer Rim."

Daenerys held her gaze steady. "You are asking to use my army."

"I don't want to use any army!" Padmé argued. "I want to find a diplomatic solution."

Daenerys paced a moment. "We both want to help people. We can only help them from a position of strength. Sometimes strength is terrible."

Padmé looked stricken, trapped between wanting to finally do something and the reality that action would hurt innocents and could change the Republic forever.

Ahsoka heard another noise.

"Master..." She reached for him-

There was a sudden burst of light and the sound of an explosion. Ahsoka blinked, they were all momentarily stunned and unable to move. A bounty hunter appeared from the shadows and blasted Threepio. Artoo made a noise like screaming.The ray shields dropped and the room was plunged into chaos.

Four lightsabers lit up again, but they were surrounded by men in heavy armor. Jorah jumped in front of Daenerys and Anakin stood before them both, looking murderous. Jaime pushed Padmé behind him. Ahsoka ran to his side but there were soldiers everywhere.

"Lower your weapons," one of them commanded.

No one did. Anakin tightened his grip.

"Do as he says." Cersei stepped into light to Jaime and the others' great shock. "Now."

Jaime stared at his twin. "Cer-"

"Now!"

Jaime dimmed his saber and a moment later Ahsoka, too. Jorah did not so Jango shot his arm and it clattered to the floor. The soldiers moved as one, knocked Jorah to the ground and grabbed the women. Anakin alone fought them off, swung his saber and hit them against the wall with the Force. 

"Go!" Daenerys shouted and was knocked to the ground beside Jorah, but Anakin ignored her and kept wrestling with the guard to get to her. Cersei ignited her lightsaber and prepared to attack but Daenerys flung her hand out and yanked a lever with the Force. The floor opened beneath Anakin and he disappeared into the dark, still clawing at the soldier.


	16. Cersei

"You won't get away with this!" Padmé shouted as the clones forced her into the room along with the others. A glance told her Cersei, or at least her allies, had been set up on Tatooine as long as they had, perhaps longer. She recognized a Hutt in the back and the bounty hunter from the earlier altercation winked at her. Cersei smirked at the woman's disgust. "I demand a trial. The Republic has rules."

"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Jorah grumbled. Padmé glowered at him. Cersei's smirk grew.

"I am a representative in the Senate," Padmé asserted. "I am the Chancellor's proxy on a diplomatic mission-"

" _I_ am the Chancellor's proxy," Cersei argued, wagging her finger in the queen's face. " _You_ are a traitor."

"I came here to-"

Cersei laughed, harsh and with little amusement. "Oh, we all know what you came here to do. It was broadcast across the galaxy."

Padmé fell momentarily quiet. "What are you..." She glanced at Jaime, and Daenerys, then back to Cersei. "What do you mean?"

Cersei's eyes lit up with a terrible joy. She hit a button and a holo popped into sight in the middle of the room. It played a recording of Padmé telling Daenerys she had backing to remove the Chancellor. A recording of Padmé committing treason.

"How…"

"You can't be so naive as to believe we'd let you meet with a foreign leader alone," Cersei tsked and kicked Artoo. He beeped angrily and she gestured for a clone to attach a restraining bolt. "We've been monitoring you since you left the Chancellor's chambers." She paused before the self appointed Dragon Queen. "Right up until this upstart," Jorah grabbed Daenerys's shoulders and dragged her back before the clones could strike her. "...jammed our signal. A communications breakdown can mean only one thing," Cersei sneered. "Invasion."

"No-" Padmé struggled against her guards. Cersei grabbed her wrist, pulled her close.

"I have been underestimated my entire life. I knew you weren't the innocent you pretended to be. But you are too trusting." Padmé fell to the floor as Cersei released her, pushed Jaime away as he tried to help her up and ran at Daenerys in a rage.

"What did she promise you?"

Daenerys was silent, still glaring at Cersei, who laughed again, louder and more cruel.

"I would never ally myself with a dirty little princess who lies with animals," she spit. With a quick jerk through the Force she grabbed Jaime's lightsaber and lifted her own to reveal they had matching spheres at the hilt. With the flick of a button she played the a recording of the last few minutes; Jaime and Padmé watched with equal horror.

"You are a traitor," Cersei repeated and gestured for the clones to take her into custody again.

"No-" Padmé sobbed.

"I didn't know-" Jamie pleaded.

"You are trying to overthrow the Chancellor!" Cersei shouted, a wildness in her eyes.

"Padmé, I didn't know!"

"Plotting with miscreants!"

"I will burn your cities to the ground!" Daenerys screeched. Jorah fought off the clones trying to silence her. "Nothing will save you!"

Cersei ignored them, focused entirely on Padmé. "That is treason!"

Jorah was shot and fell to the ground, injured. Daenerys tried to drop beside him but the clones grabbed both arms.

"My allegiance is to the Republic!" Padmé shouted through tears. "To democracy!" 

"Padmé!" Jaime tried to reach her but was blocked by clones. 

"Take her away," Cersei ordered. 

Ahsoka leapt in front of Padmé, fists out, ready to strike.

"That one, too.," Cersei hissed. "Take all of them away!"

"Master!"

"Cersei!"

The clones grabbed Ahsoka on either side and knocked Padmé in the stomach, dragged her beside Daenerys. Cersei stood tall over all three women. Padmé spit in her face.

"I demand a trial!"

Cersei smiled. "You will get a trial," she agreed. "A trial by combat. You all will."

At the wave of her hand the clones marched Daenerys, Padmé, Ahsoka and the unconscious Jorah out of the room, to be held overnight. The Hutts provided her an arena. She looked forward to watching them bleed. Struck dumb Jaime reached for his friend and his padawan but more clones stood in his way. Ahsoka looked back to meet his eyes, distraught, before the door slammed closed to cut them off.

"Cersei, what are you doing?" Jaime rounded on his sister, equally distraught.

"This corruption will not stand," she answered calmly. "The Republic demands swift justice."

"Justice?!" She swept past him. She had much to accomplish. "You're talking about Padmé and Ahsoka! They are not the enemy!"

Cersei paused at the threshold to her inner room and shook her head. "Everyone who isn't us is an enemy. Why haven't you learned that yet?"

Jaime looked at her with desperation. "You don't believe that..."

"I have known it my whole life." Their parents gave them away to the Jedi. The Jedi did everything they could to keep them apart and handed her over to a succession of madmen. They all treated her like a mistake. No one has ever shown her the respect they do Jaime though she was his superior in every way.

"Please don't do this," he begged, stepping close, reaching for her hand. "It's not who you are."

Cersei looked at him with infinite sadness. She wanted to embrace him, cling to him, but he'd been poisoned against her. She put her hands on his face. He looked confused, scared. It would break her heart but her heart had hardened years ago.

"Never betray me again."


	17. Boba

Boba leaned over the ledge to peer at the arena. His father stood behind him, arms crossed, always on guard. Seated in their box were Zero the Hutt, Nute Gunray, a handful of other alleged dignitaries he was pretty sure were really criminals, Cersei and a reluctant Jaime.

Somewhere a fanfare sounded and the prisoners were brought in: Padmé, Daenerys, Ahsoka, and Jorah were chained to three poles in the center of the arena. The fanfare sounded again and three monsters were released. The action started immediately. Padmé slipped out of her bonds and scaled the pole, using the chain to hit the large feline creature that scratched at her. Ahsoka tried to Force charm the horned beast to her side. Jorah scrounged a weapon and fought with a singular focus to protect his queen. Daenerys simply stared at the animals, daring them to cross her. Impatient, Gunray ordered his battle droids into the fray. At first this gave the Force users more weapons, they flung the droids at the animals and droids with a wave of their hands, but more and more poured into the arena.

The nexu leapt at Padmé and she cried out, injured. Jaime stood and hurried toward the stairs.

"What are you doing?" Cersei demanded.

"She needs help."

Cersei stood and stepped into his path, Jango fell in step just behind her. "She is a traitor to the Republic."

"She is—" He shook his head. "We have lived side by side for ten years, _how can you_?"

"Yes, ten years!" his sister screeched. "I've waited long enough!"

Jaime shook his head in horror. "I don’t know who you are anymore."

"That's why she has to die." Cersei reached out, grabbed his face in her hands. "Once her poison is defeated you'll be free, you'll be mine again."

Jaime threw her hands off and backed away.

"No one walks away from me," Cersei threatened. Jango raised his blaster.

"Are you going to order him to kill me?"

She stood, pale, unable to answer.

Jaime jumped over the ledge, landed softly in the pit, and ran toward Padmé.

Boba glanced toward Cersei and his father. She raised her trembling chin.

"What are you waiting for?!" she shouted at the bounty hunter. "Kill them all."

With a nod, Jango leapt into the air and flew into battle. Boba watched the fight from relative safety. The prisoners put up a good fight but they were outnumbered and quickly surrounded. Jorah stood in front of Daenerys, bleeding profusely and barely able to raise his arm but he wouldn't fall. Jaime raised his lightsaber, hit back shots as quickly as he could, but Jango and the Trade Federation's battle droids were relentless. Still Daenerys refused to cower.

A battle droid hit Jaime's shoulder and his arm dropped, his lightsaber rolled out of his hand. Padmé and Ahsoka both lunged for it but Jango blasted. Boba smiled with pride but they were all interrupted by a sudden booming noise and the appearance of a silver ship. Before anyone registered what they were seeing the ship erupted in blue lightning that shot out into the surrounding arena igniting all the spectators in a blast of pure Force energy.

The ship lowered into the arena, Daenerys and Ahsoka leapt up and pulled the other three onto the dragon. Daenerys slipped inside the ship and the others followed one by one. Ahsoka was on the wing, gently helping Padmé in when Jango dropped onto the ship, guns blazing. Pushing Padmé inside Ahsoka stood her ground and called Jaime's saber into her hand. She blocked the bounty hunter's shots with the saber, he spun and blasted her with fire. Ahsoka ducked, jumped up and swung with all her might severing his head from his body. Boba screamed and fell to his knees. Ahsoka ran inside the ship and the dragon flew away with one last burst of lightning it disappeared.

The arena was in chaos, on fire, explosions going off in every direction. Zero was blubbering about an injury, Nute was shouting at anyone who would listen, nearly everyone else was dead.

"Be quiet!" Cersei shouted at the Neimoidian.

"They are getting away!" he hissed.

Cersei laughed, a harsh sound more like a bark with no amusement whatsoever. "No. They've revealed themselves. Now we have a war."

When the dust had settled, Nute and others gone, Cersei stood in the middle of the broken arena to greet the Jedi Masters sent to assess the damage. One was small, green and wrinkled, the other tall, black and commanding. Boba recognized his father's helmet, off to the side and ran over to claim it.

"Masters," Cersei greeted. 

"What happened here?"

"It was exactly what you feared," she explained, "barely a warning in the Force and then..."

"One dragon did this?" the tall Master stared in disbelief. "With one pilot?"

She nodded. "And they have three."

A clone arrived. "We've completed a sweep, sir. No sign of the fugitives."

"They could be halfway across the galaxy by now," the Master mused, with concern.

"Perhaps. But know where they will come we do." He glanced to the burning flag of the Republic hung over the dignitary box. "Prepare we must."

The Jedi Masters walked away and the clone followed, gesturing for his men to march back onto the ship. Boba watched, clinging to the helmet. He didn't know what to do. He had nowhere to go.

"Come on then."

He raised his eyes. Cersei was looking at him as if she was tired of waiting for him. She raised an eyebrow and turned, walked away. After a beat he stood and followed. Slowly at first, but then picked up his pace until he was just behind her. He walked in step to her ship, head held high.


	18. Ahsoka

They landed on Polis Massa, an asteroid that Padmé's rebels used as a secret base. Everyone was weary, everyone except Anakin was injured.

Her Master was in shock. He'd defied his sister, the Order, and the Republic. Padmé stuck close. Ahsoka sensed something had shifted between them, the tension that had always been there was bubbling to the surface. It scared her, but she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do about any of it. Or where to go. She was in the way no matter what she chose.

Of the group, Daenerys had lost the most. Her people were still on Tatooine, their status unknown. Anakin had retrieved the kraydt engines, an arsenal of weapons and a few droids - Ahsoka recognized the one from the palace in the back - but the people were in hiding.

And Ser Jorah was dying. Ahsoka didn't know him well but he was never far from Daenerys. Anakin told her he been with her when he met them more than a decade before. He had been with her all along.

"I can't do this without you."

Polis Massa was too small to provide anyone privacy. But maybe that was good. Maybe that was what Daenerys needed. 

"You are not alone," Jorah told her, his breathing labored. It would not be long.

Ahsoka thought about his words. She had Anakin, certainly, and he took out most of the arena all by himself. Padmé and Jaime may not be devoted to her in the same way but they were allies and they had more within the senate... How did everything get so complicated so quickly? ...but Jorah was a Jedi, or he used to be. Maybe he meant the Force.

Daenerys shook her head. "Please..." she pleaded with anyone, anything that might listen.

"You are the chosen one, the prince who was promised. I have known from the moment I met you. But you are more than that." He reached a hand to her cheek. "You may cover it up and deny it, but you have a gentle heart. A warrior and a healer." Daenerys shook her head. "Shh. I am honored to have served you."

He was saying goodbye. She didn't want to hear it, accept it, but she couldn't stop it. Ahsoka glanced at her Master. She was scared and she didn't care if he saw it. If he was smart he was scared, too. 

Daenerys grasped Jorah's hand, pressed it to her lips, her tears falling freely. The others were silent, watching, waiting. Jaime put his hands on her shoulders, offering comfort and silently promising Master Mormont he was right. She was not alone.

"Don't look back, Khaleesi." He smiled, as best he could. "Don't look back."

Ahsoka hugged herself. Anakin dropped a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his eyes, deep with compassion. She wasn't alone, either.

"I need you by my side," Daenerys whispered.

"I will be with you. Always..." With this last word Jorah Mormont died.

Daenerys fell onto his chest sobbing. With a squeeze for her shoulder Anakin let go of Ahsoka and gathered Daenerys into his arms. Jaime steered Ahsoka away.


	19. Boba

The Jedi Council room was intimidating. Just another arena. These people trained the girl who killed his father, he doesn't believe they are on his side, and he's pretty sure Cersei doesn't either.

"The situation is out of hand."

Boba swallowed a scoff but this was an understatement. The rebels were in hiding but they still had all three dragons, and had apparently recruited two more Jedi. And Jaime was well known, close to many key figures in the Republic, Padmé even more so. The Outer Rim was in turmoil, accusations and counter accusations were flying in the senate, no one trusted anyone. The situation was _completely_ out of hand.

"You should have contacted the Council before taking any action," the commanding one from the arena chastised Cersei. Master Windu, he remembered.

"I was worried for the Chancellor," she explained, and after a pregnant pause, "and my brother." 

The Jedi shared a look. Cersei's expression was contrite but Boba knew there was more to it. Everything she did was calculated.

The Master sighed. "You are certain he is in league with the rebels." 

"I didn't believe it... I did not want to believe it." There was something different in her voice. A truth. She was hurting. But she forced the feeling away. "But he fought with them. He escaped with them, and I have heard nothing from him since."

The room is quiet a long moment.

"And the padawan?"

Cersei looked to Boba, nodded for him to answer.

"She killed my father." The same hurt was in his voice, and an anger he worried would never go away. He silently vowed to destroy her.

The Jedi were uncomfortable. The air was thick with it.

"Lost them we have, to the Dark Side I fear," the little green one who was in charge said finally. It didn't make them any less queasy.

"Perhaps the Chancellor was correct to activate the clone army," a tall guy with a weirdly thin face suggested. "We don't know how many allies the rebels have."

The green one - Yoda, Cersei called him - didn't like that, but he stayed quiet.

Master Windu nodded. "Given that we must provide oversight - the Senate cannot be trusted."

The Jedi all looked at each other again. Boba didn't like it. He didn't like these weird out of touch wizards who thought they were better than everyone, thought they could play with lives like pawns in a game, even if they were stupid clones.

Yoda nodded. Windu addressed Cersei.

"Tell the Chancellor Jedi will be assigned to each battalion."

"Contain this we must."

Cersei bowed. Boba pursed his lips.


	20. Daenerys

Space was cold. There was no sun on the asteroid. It was crowded with strangers, Anakin was always hovering and the others were watching. Judging.

"The Senate is split into factions," the new senator explained. Bail Organa, of Alderaan, one of Padmé's allies. One of the reasons they were discovered and arrested. "The Chancellor is unpopular but people are afraid to speak out. The bounty for all of you is astronomical and the stories they are telling..."

They were all monsters who wreak havoc. Who tear families apart, destroy businesses, and poison whole populations against the Republic. Monsters all and Daenerys the queen of them. She didn't care. She didn't even disagree. These senators, her alleged allies, were all cowards. They didn't like the Chancellor but they just want a new one. The Republic worked for them and they were too loyal, too indoctrinated to imagine an alternative.

"Fear can be a weapon," she said in a flat voice.

"No," Padmé said with conviction. "Fear is Palpatine's weapon. We have to be better than that."

Daenerys was unconvinced.

"Fear is a path to the Dark Side," Jaime added, quiet. "We want the Jedi on our side."

"They are leading his armies," Daenerys argued.

"If they knew the truth they would turn against him."

Daenerys was still unconvinced.

Bail raised his hands. "Fear won't work against the clones, or the Jedi. And the Senate, the people… they want something, someone to believe in. A leader. In the Outer Rim, you gave people hope."

She flattened her lips. "What do you suggest?"

"Appeal to the Senate." He nodded toward Jaime. "And the Order. Tell your story."

Daenerys raised an eyebrow toward Anakin.

"Communication is intermittent," he answered the silent query. They had to be careful to avoid detection, and it was difficult to determine whom to trust.

"And the holonet is entirely war propaganda these days," Padmé sighed with frustration.

"We can appeal to neutral systems?" Bail suggested.

"They may listen, but..." They were neutral for a reason. They'd never come to Naboo's aid, why would they help the poorest planets, all home to criminals?

"You still have a voice in the Senate, you can make a motion - even sponsor a direct appeal."

Padmé blanched. "That's what put him power."

"Yes," Organa conceded, and Daenerys realized that was his point. "He used the system-"

"He used me!"

"He used the system," the senator repeated with quiet deliberation. "We can use the system."

Padmé threw her hands up. As long as they argued the Chancellor was winning. 

"He won't give up his power," Jaime interjected. "Not willingly, no matter what the outcome."

Padmé chewed her lip.

"He'll lose all support if he refuses." Daenerys forced herself not to roll her eyes. Organa's faith in the system was childish at best. She didn't need any more children in her retinue.

But Jaime rolled his eyes for her. "He has an endless supply of soldiers all programmed to fight for him." He looked like he was going to be ill. "To die for him."

"For the _Republic._ " 

Jamie turned so green she thought he really would be sick. Ahsoka's eyes were wide with worry. Padmé touched his arm.

"Jaime?"

He looked at her hand on his arm, covered it with his own, accepting the strength and comfort she offered. "Palpatine manipulated you, me, the Jedi, the Senate, the holos..." He raised his eyes to the group. "And now he has an army of men with software in their brain. They don't fight for the Republic."

The silence was deafening, their horror palpable.

"We need to cut off his supply," Anakin said.

Jaime pulled up the map and pointed to a dot. "Kamino." With another click a vague outline of the factories on the surface appeared.

"It will be heavily guarded," Organa cautioned.

"By clones?" Daenerys asked.

"Mm." Anakin chewed on a finger, as he contemplated the layout. "But a quick attack to the infrastructure- it could work."

"How many clones?" Daenerys demanded.

Jaime took a breath. "200,000 if not more."

Her face hardened.

"I'm going to speak to the prisoner." Anakin had captured the clone who fell with him down the pit in the palace. They hadn't decided what to do with him, locked him in quarters with a force field and a recorder - they couldn't spare a real guard, but so far the clone had barely moved and certainly hadn't tried to escape. "Anakin," she called. He followed after her, frowning, then suddenly caught on, as she knew he would. He started making calculations, the energy leapt off him in waves and she made a note to suggest he do math in bed sometime. The thought made her warm and she thought perhaps her heart would mend after all.

"Wait, where are you...?"

Daenerys glanced back at her allies, a portrait of confusion. She gestured _not to worry!_ "I have an idea." 


	21. Anakin

It took three weeks to figure out. Which was three weeks too long for Daenerys, but they only had one test subject and Anakin refused to treat him like a science experiment. CT-5555 was grown in a tube, genetically altered, and conditioned since birth but he was a person, a person given no choices. Anakin was determined to change that. 

They started talking. The clones didn't have names, he explained, just numbers, but they trained in batches that resembled family groups and called each other brother. On Kamino they were mostly anonymous, a sea of brothers, with all the same face. But in training and with their leaders there was more opportunity for individuality.

"I'm Fives," the clone explained once it became clear Anakin wasn't looking to interrogate him. Anakin broke into a smile.

"That's a good name."

Their conversations grew longer, more in depth, and the others started coming by to listen. Fives wasn't afraid to voice his concerns about the general- Cersei, they figured out when he described her, and Jaime shook his head at how much he didn't know about his sister. He went into detail about nightmares that drove his buddy, Echo, crazy. Echo died before Fives could get him back to Kamino to get checked out. The general didn't listen to Echo or Fives or any of the clones. She had a mission and they were just tools. Tools shouldn't have nightmares.

"I told her it didn't matter if we should because we did, but she didn't care."

Jaime shook his head again, pained. Cersei had suffered from nightmares since childhood. But she ignored them, refused to talk about them, even to him. She dismissed her own so of course she'd dismiss the clone's. But it had killed Echo.

Everyone came to hear Fives describe the details of the nightmares to Anakin and watching Jaime, Ahsoka, and Daenerys, Anakin realized nightmares linked them all.

With Fives's help Anakin discovered a dormant chip that could be used to rewrite his programming.

"What will happen to me?"

"You said Echo became incoherent?"

The clone nodded. "He kept repeating 'good soldiers follow orders'."

Anakin frowned. Good slaves follow orders, too.

Fives and Anakin presented the findings to what constitutes their war council.

Bail raised a hand as if he wanted to physically push the information away from him. "This can be used to make them follow any order, make them loyal to anyone, and turn them against anyone."

Anakin nodded.

"Even the Chancellor?" Jaime asked, and the room heard a silent _and Cersei_ , in his flat tone.

He nodded again. "In theory."

"We could turn his entire army against him?" _Them._

"With the right coding. Yes."

The words were met with silence and an array of expressions hovering between amazed and disturbed.

"We're not going to do that, right?" Ahsoka blurted.

Anakin flashed her a grateful smile. He absolutely did not want to do that. But he worried about the others and based on their guilty glances he was right to. He took a deep breath and crossed his arms.

"What if we deactivate it?"

"What do you mean?" Daenerys asked.

"We shut it off, short circuit it so it can never be used." He looked around the room. "Fives deserves to make his own decision. They all do."

"How many will stay loyal to the Chancellor?" Organa asked.

"I don't know. I don't think it should matter."

An awkward silence grew as they considered how to argue with him. The longer it grew the angrier Anakin became.

"You-" he pointed at Bail "-said the Chancellor is unpopular. That he rules with fear and tricks."

"He is. And he does. But soldiers..." _follow orders_ , Anakin and Fives completed in their heads. Anakin scowled and turned to Jaime.

"You said the Jedi will turn against him if they learn the truth."

He nodded. "I believe they will."

"And the Senate?" Anakin asked Padmé.

"Yes."

"Then why not the clones?" he demanded. "Because they're different?"

"...They _are_ different," Organa answered, as kindly as he could.

"So am I." Anakin's voice was raw with emotion. "Daenerys gave the Outer Rim hope, remember? She saw us as people, individuals. She saw me." He looked at Daenerys, watching him with intensity. "I was a child and she gave me a way to help myself, to become-" To become whatever he is, which he doesn't know except... except hers. He swallowed. Everyone was watching him with intensity now. "They deserve the choice to decide who they want to be. Not who someone tells them to be. We free them. We give them the choice."

Another long silence grew. The longest. Ahsoka was clearly on his side, and Padmé, too, he thought. Bail and Jaime were pragmatic but they appeared moved. And Daenerys had fire in her eyes for the first time since Jorah died.

It's Fives who broke the silence. "Can you do it? For all of us?"

Anakin nodded with confidence. "It's the same principle as what we did with the slave trackers on Tatooine. It'll be easy on Kamino, you're all already networked. I just need to hack in."

He looked around the table, met everyone's eyes and found no disagreement. Relieved he placed his hands on the table and leaned in to make a plan.


	22. Boba

The assault on Kamino had dominated the news cycle for days. There was little footage of the attack - or revolt, depending on who you asked - but they looped it for hours, interspersed with scientists discussing the rebels' claims and investigations into the clones' origins. The Jedi gave no comment and senators were falling over themselves to be the first to make vague statements that supported neither side. Chaos reigned and Boba couldn't look away.

Cersei was also watching, with tight lips and narrowed eyes, clearly tense. Her brother wasn't visible in the recording but his padawan was, the girl who killed Boba's father. His fists clenched at the sight of her. 

But snips of the Dragon Queen's orders to the clone soldiers had reached the corder and they were not about death and destruction but breaking free. And the rebels were using their super ships to help the clones and punish those obnoxious cloners who'd always looked at his father like a tool, if they looked at him at all.

"You should be training." Cersei's voice was clipped, pushing down a rage that has nothing to do with him.

Boba scowled and picked up a practice blade. He's not Force sensitive but she was treating him like an apprentice, said he was bred to be a soldier, that anyone could learn the techniques and his reflexes gave him an advantage. Boba didn't want to learn Jedi techniques but his father taught him to always pay attention. And it would help him kill Jedi, like the one on the screen.

"I did not foresee this."

Boba wondered if he meant it literally. He didn't much like the Chancellor. He was old and creepy, especially in private. But he had seen enough of him with Cersei to know he was some kind of Jedi - a dark one - and being able to see the future was one of their powers.

"The girl is clever," Cersei admitted with reluctant admiration, glaring at her image on the screen. 

"Hmm."

Cersei turned sharply and Boba briefly saw fear in her eyes before her mask fell into place.

"But still an insignificant child, Master," she stressed. 

"A child with powerful toys," Palpatine mused, still watching the screen. Boba understood him to mean the dragons, but now she had a clone army, too, and he bristled at being compared to a doll.

"The Jedi won't trust her."

Cersei said it with confidence but Boba sensed the concern underneath it. Boba wasn't privy to their grand plan but he knew it existed and had been going on since before he was hatched, before his father was even approached to provide a mold. And the rebel actions on Kamino put it in jeopardy.

The Chancellor seemed to make a decision and turned his glower from the screen to his apprentice. "Make certain."

She bowed. "Yes, Master."

Palpatine glanced to Boba, deflecting bolts of energy with his practice blade. "You're improving." He sounded less creepy, more his normal politician voice, but no more friendly, and perhaps even less. It took all of Boba's training not to flinch when the Chancellor pat his shoulder as he brushed past to exit the room. As the doors shut behind him,  Cersei called Boba to her side.

Cersei manipulated the footage of the clone escape, paused Ahsoka's image and pulled back to make it bigger until she filled the screen. Boba growled and Cersei smiled at him.

"At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we shall have our revenge."

Boba was not sure what she meant, and honestly she sounded as creepy as the Chancellor. But Ahsoka's determined face, surrounded by clones on every side, mocked him and he would do anything to crush her. 

He grinned.  "What do you need me to do?"


	23. Ahsoka

Their tiny rebel armada arrived in Coruscant airspace under the cover of an obscure Alderaanian holiday celebration that Ahsoka suspected Senator Organa actually made up. Anakin and Daenerys had never been to the capital and watched their approach with wide eyes. Anakin was impressed and intimidated, the planet was basically the exact opposite of Tatooine. Daenerys looked at Coruscant like it was the answer to a riddle and she alone understood. Ahsoka didn't want to admit it but she was scared. This was all really happening.

As the ships slowly docked they went over the plan one more time. 

Jaime, Padmé and Fives would infiltrate Palpatine's office, connect to his private network, and use the signal to free the rest of the clones and broadcast their message across the Republic. They hoped to get in and out undetected but were just as likely to be confronted by Palpatine, Cersei or both. One group of clones were on standby to help.

Anakin and Ahsoka would go to the Jedi temple to provide proof of Palpatine's machinations, then bring their new Jedi allies to help Jaime's team take out the Chancellor. Padmé and Organa wanted him taken alive and put on trial, but the others were not as concerned about it. Ahsoka knew Cersei would have to be arrested, too, and worried what it would do to her Master, but all she could do was be there for him when it happened.

Daenerys and Senator Organa would head to the Senate where she would testify. Once the comms were taken they would use the holonet to broadcast her address across the Republic. She would tell the truth about her exploits in the Outer Rim, about Chancellor Palpatine's plot, and the plight of clones. She would tell their story, all of it.

Everyone was ready to play their part but the plan went awry before they even got started.

"They're reporting an attack on the Jedi temple!" Hardcase ran in and pulled up the holonet. They all crowded around to hear the reports of an explosion that rocked the city, evidence of green dragon fire and reports of rebels with stolen clones attacking the Jedi. The holo tightened on a figure shouting to two clone troopers and Ahsoka's visage blinked on screen, outlined in red, the prime suspect. Reporters were talking over each other to discuss her connections to the mysterious Daenerys of Targarya and fallen Jedi Jaime Lannister and implied they were on a mission to destroy all Jedi, everywhere.

Ahsoka was in shock. Jaime, Padmé, Daenerys and the senator were all talking but she didn't hear any of it, just the holo saying again and again that she blew up the temple and killed hundreds of people. She felt dizzy. She felt like she was falling.

Anakin put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked in a low voice.

Ahsoka stared at the temple on the viewscreen, burning. "Those are my teachers, my peers, my..." Her friends, but the Jedi don't admit to friendship. Camaraderie, but not affection, not attachment... "I grew up there." It was the closest thing she had to a home. She never felt comfortable in the Chancellor's apartments no matter how well decorated.

"We were on our way." She blinks at tears. "We were going to tell them. Warn them..." She felt suddenly sick and sagged against his arm. Anakin embraced her protectively, held her together as she peered at the holo. The shot closed in, caught a handful of people racing around, following the shouted directions of a Jedi - Ahsoka recognized Plo Koon, the Jedi Master who found her as a child and introduced her to the Order, and sat up suddenly.

"We have to warn them!"

The others turned, startled at her outburst, looks of confusion and concern on their faces. "They're fighting... look!" She pointed at the holo. "Survivors... We have to help. They don't know..." About the Chancellor, the plot... She turned to Anakin, eyes wide, pleading. "We have to help!"

He nodded. "She's right. Rex!" Ahsoka started to breathe again as Anakin and his second directed clones to grab their gear and prepare to launch.

"It will look like an attack if you take an army to the temple," Senator Organa cautioned but Anakin had no time for it.

"I don't care about the optics, she just said there are children in there."

Ahsoka blinked and jumped up to grab her own gear and run after the clones.

"Ahsoka, wait!" Rex reached her first and grabbed her shoulders.

"You can't go," Anakin told her, apology in his voice.

"But-"

"They made you the face of the rebellion," Padmé said. "You'll play right into his hands."

Ahsoka knew she was right but- "We have a plan."

The adults shared a look. It was a good point, altering the plan now was also risky.

"Come with us," Jaime offered.

"But...Skyguy..." She was Anakin's partner, his way into the temple. The Jedi knew her, they didn't know him.

"I've got them." He gestured to the clones. Rex smiled at her, encouraging. "I'll be fine."

She knew it was silly. Anakin and the clones didn't need her. But what if something happened? They'd been working together for weeks. They were a team.

"What if they shoot first?"

"He is a dragon," Daenerys said as if that was all that needed to be said. Ahsoka made a face. Sometimes she talked in as many riddles as Master Yoda. "Trust the Force."

Ahsoka looked at Anakin and Jaime and back and finally agreed reluctantly.

"I'll save them," Anakin told her. "I promise."

He squeezed her shoulder then moved away to Daenerys. He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Ahsoka thought she should look away but she couldn't. Jedi don't do that. She thought - she _knew_ \- some of them wanted to but... attachment was forbidden and they were clearly attached.

Ahsoka glanced to Jaime and Padmé, also clearly attached though they tried to hide it. She turned back to Anakin and Daenerys, he was murmuring something to her, too quiet for Ahsoka to hear, then looked over at Ahsoka and winked.

She didn't laugh. It wasn't the time. But she wanted to, and she realized that's why he did it. She realized they were attached, too. Not in the same way, but they are.

And it didn't feel wrong.

"Ready?" She nodded to Fives, and they headed to Padmé's shuttle.

"Ahsoka."

She turned. Daenerys stood behind her. She reached out and dropped a kyber crystal pendant around her neck, like the one she wore, and Anakin.

"It was Ser Jorah's," she explained. "It will protect you."

Daenerys swept away and Ahsoka ran to join her group. Her fingers flew up to the crystal; it hummed at her touch, in time with her heartbeat.


	24. Daenerys

She had seen the Galactic Senate on holo but the Grand Convocation Chamber was bigger in person. Cavernous and yet somehow suffocating. She preferred open skies, wide spaces, the natural world.  There was nothing natural about Coruscant. It was bright and loud and crowded and never still. 

The senate wasn't like that. The colors were muted. The lights were subdued. The people were conditioned to listen, at least until it was time to shout. And though crowded, it was organized. When the repulsorpod holding Alderaan's delegation detached from the wall and rose into the light, it became very still, so still she could hear a heartbeat.

The Chancellor was not there to acknowledge them and his absence was starting to cause a stir. The congress had received word of an emergency session called by Chancellor Palpatine. That was how they had arranged it, and with everything going on the senate chamber was full of curious politicians. But the Chancellor's box was empty.

Bail steered his pod to the center of the hall and maneuvered it above the empty podium, causing a minor uproar. The senator raised his hands, asked for quiet. A hovercam sent his visage into every box and a floating microphone amplified his voice. Some  argued protocol, others accused him of treachery, treason, but many did quiet. They were eager to learn something. When it was quiet enough Bail nodded to Daenerys and Threepio.

She stood, found the hovercam and pulled back her cloak. Her eyes were sharp, her chin defiant, as the crowd gasped and the murmurs swelled. Threepio's amplified voice cut through it all to recite her name and her litany of titles. The introduction was long enough to grab their attention and everyone was quiet, listening with rapt attention when Daenerys started her address.

"Gentle beings of the galaxy..."


	25. Anakin

It was dark when they arrived, as dark as it got on Coruscant. The neon lights didn't encroach on the Jedi temple, but the green glow of dragon fire surrounded it. Anakin directed Hardcase to land at the steps.

"Stay in formation, weapons holstered." They expected an attack, but could not let it escalate into a fight. There was too much at stake. "We'll go slow. Be on alert but hold your fire." He looked around. The clones acknowledged his orders with a salute or nod. He saw a few clenched fists, a lot of tension. "Remember who the enemy is."

And who it was not: the clones in the temple were still their brothers, just as the Jedi were Jaime's and Ahsoka's.

They marched up the steps. The sounds of blaster fire and lightsabers grew louder, smoke started to pool around them and sparks punctuated the darkness. Still Anakin and the clones were steady and calm. They only had one chance at this and without Ahsoka it would be difficult. But he would rather die than risk her life. He was wary of Jaime and Padmé, but he warmed to Ahsoka right away. They were a lot alike.

He shook the thoughts away, focused on the task at hand. They had reached the top of the stairway. Anakin spied a tall figure in the dim light, his weapon drawn, its purple light flickering in the shadows. He took a breath and gestured to Rex. The clone commander halted his advance, the clones behind him followed suit. Anakin walked alone into the low light, hands open in greeting toward the figure, he stopped just out of lightsaber range.

"Master Windu."

The Jedi Master's eyes narrowed. "Are you here to negotiate?"

"We're here to help." The Jedi frowned. "The clones attacking you are not with us, and they are not acting of their own volition."

"They've been reprogrammed," Windu assumed, "like you did on Kamino." The holos had been reporting on it since the attack. 

"We freed them on Kamino," Anakin countered. He gestured behind him. "These men are loyal to Daenerys. They choose to follow me. We made certain it was their choice."

Windu considered his words. "The bombs used dragon fire." He indicated the smoke rising behind him, the green tinge all around.

The deception infuriated Anakin. "The Chancellor wants us to fight each other. Wants us to kill each other!"

The saber in the Jedi Master's hands shook, almost imperceptibly. "The Chancellor…?!"

"Don't you see? He needs a war to stay in power." Anakin was frustrated, worried, and it showed. Ahsoka told him to be measured, calm, but it just wasn't his nature. "He's using us. Not just the clones, not just the Jedi, all of us."

Mace pursed his lips. "That is a very strong accusation. Can you provide proof?"

"I have a message from Jaime Lannister."

The Jedi glanced into the shadows, Anakin realized there were others hidden there.

"Why not deliver it himself?"

"He's confronting the Chancellor," Anakin pitched his voice to carry into the shadows, too. "Ahsoka was going to come with me, but..." He looked up at the smoke and then back to Mace with angry eyes. "You know she didn't do this. She wouldn't."

Mace glanced to the side again. Another voice, deep and measured, answered, "What is the message?"

Anakin recited it exactly as Jamie drilled it into his head. "Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord. The one you've been looking for."

Silence stretched between them. Master Windu peered at the young man from Tatooine, taking his full measure. Anakin held his ground, the clones past him were still. The only movement was the smoke, the only noise the murmur of a battle ongoing in the temple. Finally the Jedi turned to the shadows again. A small green alien walked into the light.

"Sure you are?"

Anakin frowned. He didn't know what a Sith was, other than evil. "Master Lannister is sure."

"Then our worst fears have been realized." Mace deactivated his lightsaber. "After Kamino we isolated the clones. They are patrolling the outer rim under the command of General Kenobi and Commander Cody." As he explained, more Jedi join them, including one Anakin recognized as Plo Koon, whom Ahsoka mentioned. "Or they should be. We lost contact with the general moments before the bomb went off."

Anakin looked up at the temple, the noises of a battle still spilled from it. "I don't understand."

"The Chancellor is not the only one who can manipulate the holos," Plo Koon answered, in the deep voice from before.

Anakin shot him a sharp look, comprehension burned in his eyes. They never suspected Ahsoka!

"Move quickly we must."


	26. Boba

The holo droned on and on, the same footage of the Temple attack playing over and over. There were no statements from the Jedi, on Coruscant or out in the galaxy. The reporters voiced concern they may all be dead or captured. Another made a passing remark about the Chancellor calling an emergency session of the senate. Even Cersei and Palpatine looked over at that. Then an alert sounded, sudden breaking news that clones had been seen converging on the temple. Boba leaned in to listen but the doors slid open to reveal Jaime, Padmé, Ahsoka, and a handful of clones, weapons drawn, though pointed down.

Cersei's eyes flashed with hostility and she moved to intercept but Palpatine raised a hand and she fell still, though glaring. The Chancellor smiled at the intruders.

"It's treason then."

Padmé raised her blaster. "You are under arrest for crimes against the Republic."

"I serve the Republic."

"You manipulated a war to-"

He gestured to the holo. "You brought an army to the capital."

"When the senate hears of your lies-"

"I own the senate." He stood. "I am the senate!" Jaime jumped in front of Padmé, lightsaber lit. "I am unarmed, boy."

"I doubt it."

Boba noticed one of the clones had broken away from the scene. Everyone else was watching the argument.

Palpatine moved closer, within striking distance.

"Are you going to kill me?" His tone remained oddly conversational.

"I would certainly like to."

Palpatine smiled. It was terrible. "I know you would. The hate is swelling in you now."

Jaime glared. Cersei moved in beside the Chancellor and motioned for Boba to join her. He frowned but did as she asked, still musing about the wayward clone.

"Give in to your anger," Palpatine goaded. "Strike me down. With each passing moment you become more my servant."

"No."

"It is your destiny," he countered. "You, like your sister, are mine."

Jaime's eyes flickered to Cersei but she betrayed nothing.

"I will never join you."

The room exploded with sudden flashes. Boba wasn't sure who moved first but the air is filled with shouts, blasters, and lightsabers. With a flick of his wrist Palpatine knocked the clone guards to the ground like toys. Ahsoka barely escaped the blast of fire he thrust at her and it scorched the wall. Padmé was firing a gun but it was ripped out of her hands and exploded, raining sparks and shrapnel on them all. Then suddenly she was groping her throat, unable to breathe.

"Let her go!" Jaime shouted. "Let her go!"

Cersei waved her hand and Padmé was flung back against the wall. Jaime ran, pulled her up in to his arms. Cersei looked disgusted.

"Pathetic."

Jaime rounded on her, poised to strike, but Cersei knew him too well and knocked the saber out of his hands. Ahsoka cried out.

"Master!"

Cersei swung around and used the Force to knock her saber away, too, and force her to her knees. Boba watched the lightsaber roll and bent to grasp it. Cersei smiled her approval.

"Good," Palpatine told him, folding his hands under his sleeves as he inspected the scene. Boba stared at the girl who killed his father. She was disarmed and trapped and couldn't move to struggle but she stared back in defiance. "Good, Boba."

One of the clones looked up. "Boba?" Everyone was startled, and confused, when the clone took off his helmet. "It's me, Tup! What are you doing here, kid? With them?"

Boba scowled. "I'm not a stupid soldier like you."

The clone frowned. Ahsoka growled. "You're on the wrong side! They don't care about you. Trust me."

Boba's whole body shook. "You shut up!" he shouted. "You don't talk to me ever! You killed my father!"

Ahsoka turned pale. The clones looked at her, disturbed.

"You killed Jango Fett?"

"I... We were fighting, he was shooting at-" She looked at Jaime and Padmé. "It was...I didn't… want…"

"Shut up!" the young clone roared.

Ahsoka met his eyes. Hers were full of sorrow. "I'm sorry."

Boba raised the lightsaber.

Padmé screamed, "No!"

Cersei glared at her. Jaime pressed her head to his chest to shield her eyes. Tup rushed at Boba and was flung back by Cersei.

Palpatine laughed.

"I can feel your anger. It gives you focus. Makes you stronger." He stopped beside the boy. "A programmable apprentice," he muttered, mostly to himself. There was a gleam in his eye. Boba hated it.

"Kill her, Boba." His grip tightened on the weapon. "Kill her now." He raised the lightsaber but hesitated, she was still watching him with sorrowful eyes, and ...acceptance. He was scared.

"Do it."

Boba screamed a kind of war cry, spun and sliced the saber down with all his might.

It was a clean cut, severing the Chancellor in two.


	27. Cersei

The rebels were stunned, staring at Palpatine's corpse and the half size clone who killed him. Cersei swept over to Boba, vaguely triumphant.

"You did well, Boba."

He looked at her with disgust and didn't answer, but closed the lightsaber.

"Come. We have to address the senate."

Slowly, they all realize the low drone of the holo was broadcasting Daenerys's speech, punctuated by shouts and sometimes applause. Boba glanced at the secretive clone and found he was still working despite having accomplished at least that goal. Boba was confused but Cersei untroubled. She was ready to play her part.

Jaime blinked, came out of the daze just as she was advancing to the dais that will launch her into the senate chamber.

"Cersei..."

She paused, considered, and continued.

"Cersei, you've lost."

She turned back, met his eyes.

"You blew up the Jedi," she countered. "Murdered the Chancellor."

He shook his head. "There are witnesses, recordings..."

"You brought an army to the capital and lured the senate into a trap."

Padmé gasped, pushed past Jaime. "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing," Cersei answered calmly. "I've done nothing. I serve the Republic. You've done this. You and your dragon queen."

She resumed her walk. The rebel clones get in her path, tried to grab hold of her. Boba activated the lightsaber and brandished it between them.

"Patience," Cerseis chastised. "It's nearly time."

The clones were torn, clearly reticent to attack one of their own, and a child at that.

Padmé grabbed Jaime's arm. "We have to warn them. We have to evacuate the senate!"

He nodded and followed her with a sad glance back at his sister. Something stirred within her. Something broke.

"Jaime!" She flung her hand out, reaching.

He turned, startled, and looked at her the way he used to, when it was the two of them against the world.

"Stay with me. Join me." His eyes searched hers. "The Senate is corrupt, the Chancellor was weak. You are just and I am strong. And stronger together." She was pleading and she didn't care. She needed him to understand. "We can rule the galaxy together."

The old familiar look faded, replaced by resignation and regret.

"All I ever wanted to be was a knight."

Cersei's face contorted in anger. "The Jedi don't care about you. They're not allowed! I love you!" Her voice broke. "You belong with me."

He took a step toward her. "Stop this and I will stay with you."

"Jaime, no!" Padmé tried to pull him back but he brushed her off, stepped closer still to Cersei and opened his hand to her.

"Come away with me. Leave everything else behind. End the violence."

Cersei looked at his hand. Outstretched. Open. She imagined grasping it. Reached out with the Force, felt their bond respond, rusty, but still there. His aura was welcoming, forgiving. The love she had always craved was there, waiting for her. All she had to do was take his hand.

The room was silent except for Padmé's tears and the murmur of the senate feed. Daenerys said something. She couldn't hear the words but the response was thunderous applause. Cersei's eyes narrowed and she ignited her lightsaber.

"I choose violence."

Padmé screamed as the blade severs Jaime's hand. Cersei swept away as he fell back in agony. The clones and Ahsoka sprinted after her but the doors closed them off as she and Boba started to rise. 


	28. Ahsoka

Ahsoka ran to Jaime in Padmé's arms, clutching his arm, groaning in pain.

"He's in shock. He needs a medic." 

Ahsoka nodded and gestured for the clones to come help them lift her Master.

"No..." Jaime pushed the helping hands away. "No time. We need to..." He tried to rise but Ahsoka pushed him back down.  "Go... the senate..."

Padmé shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. Ahsoka pursed her lips.

"Fives!" she called out. "Any luck?"

"I found the frequency, but Commander... the only clones in range are ours."

Ahsoka turned. "What?"

Her comm chirped. "Ahsoka!"

"Anakin?"

"The temple is secure. It was a trick. The Jedi sent their clones away, they didn't trust-"

Ahsoka jumped up, understanding enough.

"Anakin! We need you here, we have to evacuate the senate."

"The senate...? But that's where Daenerys is."

Ahsoka heard the fear in his voice. She shared it. "I know, it was a trap."

She heard him barking orders to the clones through the comm.

"I'm coming."

She nodded and signed off, turned to Fives. "Get Jaime and Padmé out."

He picked Jaime up and her Master didn't argue now there was a plan, but Padmé set her jaw.

"I'm going with you."

"I can't protect you," Ahsoka argued.

"I don't need protection. I need revenge."

Ahsoka wondered when Padmé turned into a warrior. Maybe she always was one, but the Chancellor kept her chained. She nodded to Fives to let her stay.

"Ahsoka..."

"Master..." She wanted to say so much, but she didn't know where to start.

"I am so proud of you."

She grinned and clasped his shoulder, moved aside as Padmé stepped close to say goodbye. When she leaned in to brush his lips Ahsoka averted her eyes, but a smile tugged at her lips. Fives left with Jaime.  She accepted a blaster from Tup and he passed another to Padmé. They shared a look, nodded and ran up the corridor toward the senate.

Cersei was nowhere in sight. Daenerys was still speaking, though it seemed to have moved on to questions. Ahsoka's eyes darted everywhere, looking for bombs, criminals, anything out of place. She didn't see anything, but there was so much tension in the air she could hardly breathe. Padmé ran into a repulsorpod and started the controls. She drove it toward the center, shouting to Bail, who turned, confused.

"It's a trap!" Ahsoka shouted. "We need to get these people out of here!"

He shook his head, not understanding, but Daenerys turned. Their eyes met and she stopped speaking mid-word, raised her fingers to coil them around the kyber crystal pendant hanging from her neck.

"Get down!" she shouted into the speaker and her warning shot through the hall, translated into a thousand languages.

The explosions sounded below and green fire appeared just outside her gaze. At Daenerys's cry the senate burst into chatter that morphed into screams when they saw the light and felt the building start to crumble. People were running for the exits, but the bombs tripped the safety protocols and steel doors slid closed to protect them from an assumed aerial attack.

Daenerys stood in the center of her pod, in the center of the room. Black and red vines of light shot out from the crystal clutched in her hand, they surrounded her and moved through her, snaking out to hold the structure of the building in place as it exploded around them.

Bail was shouting for the crowd to move their pods to the center, away from the collapsing walls. Threepio chanted "Oh dear, oh dear," as he struggled to hold the center pod still. Padmé steered her own pod closer, tried to use it to steady the other.

"She can't hold this for long." Ahsoka had never seen such a display of the Force, such raw power. It scared her and she knew it would destroy them all if Daenerys lost control.

Padmé looked around. Half the pods were moving to the center as Bail directed. The rest were still in place, their occupants blasting through the wall with moderate success. "People are getting out, but it's chaos, we need help."

As if on cue, the top of the building was engulfed in blue lighting and ripped away. Clones dropped in on ropes and Jedi jumped in with lightsabers blazing. Plo Koon, Rex and Hardcase dropped into Padmé's pod. Ahsoka glimpsed Anakin's silver dragon through the new hole in the ceiling.

"Go! Go!" Padmé shouted directing the senators to escape through the roof. The spherical corridor was suddenly full of pods pointed upwards, like tiny ships or bugs flying in a line to the light.

"Still not fast enough," Ahsoka worried. 

Daenerys cried out, stumbling forward as her pod was hit. Her energy tendrils blinked and the green fire sped forward, nipping at the fleeing crowds and threatening to drag the whole building on top of them.

Padmé maneuvered their pod beneath Daenerys's. Bail jumped down, Hardcase grabbed Threepio, and Plo Koon and Rex reached for Daenerys but she was struggling to hold the building together. Her entire focus was on the task despite the flames that surrounded her. Her body was so bright she was transparent and Ahsoka could see the wall behind her.

Suddenly blue and silver tendrils of light encircled the black and red. Daenerys's lungs filled with air as she breathed in relief and Anakin's silver dragon appeared beside the pod. Anakin stood on top of it, the vines of light surrounding them both. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto the ship. The pod fell down into the inferno and was engulfed in green flames.

Ahsoka heard Cersei before she saw her, a wordless scream of rage as she rammed their pod with her own. Boba stood beside her, holding Ahsoka's lightsaber to shield them and shooting back at the Jedi, though she noted, not the clones.

Both pods knocked Anakin's dragon and he and Daenerys stumbled, their Force tendrils lost grip of the building and the walls started to plummet.

"We need to get out!" Padmé gripped the controls and drove the pod upwards at top speed, which was still not fast enough but at least Cersei couldn't go any faster. The clones shot behind them. "Anakin!" 

He nodded understanding, and gathered Daenerys into his arms. The ship turned liquid and reformed around them both and he shot up, must faster than the repulsorpods, and blasted them an escape path.

Their pod reached the top with Cersei right on their heels, screaming she'd kill them, she'd kill them all. Ahsoka turned to shoot her and saw Boba, his eyes wide with terror as the flames reached their pod. She grabbed a grapple from Rex's belt, shot it into the floor and swung over the side to grab the boy, and pull him into their box. He kicked at her as they land and jumped up with his - her - lightsaber lit but Plo Koon grabbed him from behind and knocked the weapons out of his hand. 

Cersei screeched in fury and jumped from her exploding pod to ledge jutting from the top of the building. She turned to look at the scene behind her: Padmé's overcrowded pod being directed to a landing outside the fire zone. Padmé hesitated to follow, stood staring at Cersei with revenge in her eyes, but Rex grabbed the controls.

"Let go!" Boba demanded.

Cersei blinked, looked at him, held tight in Plo Koon's grip. He reached a hand out, eyes pleading but her eyes hardened, and she turned and ran. Rex steered the box away as Boba cried after his mentor.

"Wait!"

He dropped his hand, and his fight. He looked lost and suddenly very young.

"She left me..."

The pod reached the safe zone and landed. Ahsoka noted fire control was on the scene and Anakin's silver ship has been joined by a pitch black one with red wings. They were flying in and out of the crowd, zapping at remaining flames and anyone stupid enough to be still loyal to Cersei. Plo Koon prodded Boba out of the pod and motioned to a clone.

"Take him to detention."

The clone hesitated. Boba was one of them, and a child, if also a criminal.

"Let him go."

Plo Koon and Boba both looked at Ahsoka in surprise.

"He killed the Chancellor. He's on our side."

A long silent moment passed, the clones looking between two Jedi. Finally Plo Koon nodded and let go of Boba. He waved the soldier away and followed. There was much to be done. 

Ahsoka approached the boy, waited for him to speak.

"I can't forget what you did." Ahsoka didn't answer, but she understood. She'll never forget either. "But you're okay for a Jedi, I guess."

She shook her head. "I'm not a Jedi." She felt tears behind her eyes but she smiled. "I'm a dragon."

She turned and leapt off the ledge into the air. She closed her eyes as the wind surrounded her and reached out with the Force. She felt it flow through her, form the ship around her, shining gold. She opened her eyes and guided it up to join the silver and black in their dance.


	29. Cersei

Cersei ran through the smoke, the fire, the rubble of the Republic. She had worked her whole life to finally take the power that she knew to her bones she was born to obtain, but now it was all crumbling around her. She would be lucky to escape with her life. All the political connections she'd made...all the lies, the secrets, the compromises... all the horrors she had suffered and witnessed and committed... all of it for nothing, nothing but fire and dust and blood.

She roared to the sky at the unfairness of it all. The walls shook with the strength of her rage. It pulsed through the Force, practically blinded her- but she barely noticed, barely cared what happened now. Everyone that mattered was gone. She was ready to sacrifice them to her ambition, but to lose everyone and gain nothing in return was too much. 

She stopped running, fell to her knees. She wondered where Jaime was, if he got out. She sent a query through their bond but only got an echo. She was still debating between getting up and lying down when she heard footsteps approach.

"Jaime?"

She stood and ran toward the noise, certain it was her brother come to find her. She crossed into a room of pillars, broken, sagging under the weight of the ceiling. Half of it was missing and light poured in, pooling, surrounding one small figure waiting for her in a long brown cloak.

"Jaime...!"

She crossed to him, hands reaching, desperate to touch him, feel him. Her throat was raw, her vision blurry from smoke and tears. She was halfway there when he pushed back the hood to reveal brown eyes flashing with a passionate fury.

"No," Padmé said.

Cersei started to laugh. She couldn't stop. It just bubbled out of her, a hysteria that terrified her. The hysteria that raised her and she worried she saw Master Sifo-Dyas just outside her range of vision. It only made her laugh harder.

"He doesn't know I'm here," Padmé told her. "He would let you go. You've lost. Lost everything, what does it matter?" Her voice is harsher than she'd ever heard it. "And he loves you. As much as he's not supposed to, as much as I hate it, he never stopped loving you." 

"He's a fool," Cersei spit, still laughing. 

"He's a good man. You couldn't ruin him."

Cersei stopped laughing. 

"I never wanted to ruin him. I wanted- I wanted-"

She blinked, afraid, or unable, to complete the thought.

"I don't care what you want."

Cersei realized Padmé had changed. She had been apprenticed to Palpatine for a decade, that was why she had been able to manipulate the rebels into joining her, how she had recognized the opportunity the dragon queen provided. Padmé had been molded by the harsh light of the truth behind their broken systems as much as Cersei had. In another life, they might be friends. 

Inexplicably, Cersei felt her eyes fill with tears. The smoke she told herself. Just the smoke.

"At least I ruined you."

She leapt at the smaller woman, lightsaber ignited, preparing to cut her in two but Padmé reacted quicker. The gun was fired before Cersei realized she had raised it and the blast hit her square between the eyes short circuiting her brain instantly.


	30. Daenerys

The fires burned for days.

The Jedi temple stood, but the walls were scorched, the pillars weakened. The Jedi were planning a mission to recover the texts and tapestries and confirm a handful of deaths. The temple itself would most likely be razed and rebuilt from the ground up. Perhaps the Order would be, too. Jaime and Ahsoka resigned and the Council was left with many questions.

How were they manipulated so long? How did they miss the signs? They failed the Lannister twins, and the young queen from Naboo. They ignored the moral dilemmas of the clones and the war. And now they were faced with a growing group of Force users who refused the code. They had much to discuss, much work to be done. 

The Senate chamber was completely destroyed. When the clones finally cleared the rubble of bodies Daenerys, Anakin, and Ahsoka used their dragons to disintegrate what was left.

A huge crowd came out to watch. Senators, their aides and families, Jedi, trade workers, smugglers and criminals of the underground, refugees, and all the clones excepting those in medical. The disparate populations all mingled beyond the blast zone. Some wept, many cheered. Children lifted their arms and pretended to fly. When nothing remained but dust the ships landed and folded in on themselves, revealing the three pilots. The applause of the crowds was deafening and went on for long minutes.

Finally, Daenerys walked forward and the crowd settled to listen. A little girl approached, the slave Daenerys purchased on Tatooine to sell Anakin's false betrayal, newly arrived from the Outer Rim, where the clones under General Kenobi had helped run out the remaining slavers. Daenerys swept the girl into her arms.

"Qi'ra! I missed you."

Anakin appeared at her side, ruffled the little girl's hair.

"What happens now?" Qi'ra asked, looking out at the sea of strange faces all staring at them. The child's question was echoed across the city.

What happens now? What happens now? What happens now?

Daenerys wished Jorah could see it. And Shmi, and her mother, and all the others who had given their lives to pave her way to this moment. She knew they were with her in the Force.

She passed Qi'ra to Anakin, kissed her nose, grasped his hand.

"Now, my loves, we build a better galaxy."


	31. Vid

I made a vid to accompany this story - unfortunately I was able to suggest footage of Jamie and Padmé easier than Anakin and Daenerys, but it was fun to make and there are a few moments I'm pretty proud of. Because I used the Main Title Theme from _Game of Thrones_ I cannot upload it to a public site and embed it here but you may watch it by [clicking this link](https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvb2n5h2pkqnub6/War%20of%20Stars%20%28Main%20Theme%29.mp4?dl=0). 

**Title:** Main Title (Game of Thrones)  
 **Artist: R** amin Djawadi

**Footage** : Game of Thrones, Star Wars: Episodes I-III, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, [Game of Thrones with Lightsabers](https://youtu.be/Ab2qyM5-f1E)


End file.
